Run
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Sequel to SAVE US. Tony and Ziva are raising Shai and new daughter Rhia together, away from the threat of Ziva's father. But when something else, something more deadly, threatens their family, can the four of them survive? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi all, this is the sequel to Save Us, that I promised. We've jumped ahead in time here, Shai (pronounced Shy) is now five years old and he's got a baby sister, Rhia (pronounced Ree-ah). But, as always in my stories, something is challenging our family and it's up to them to find out what, and stop it before it can destroy everything. I hope you all enjoy this as much as you enjoyed Save Us :) Let me know what you think**_

**Chapter One:**

_I'll sing it one last time for you_

_Then I really have to go_

_You've been the only thing that's right_

_In all I've done_

The squad room was silent, which was more than could be said for the rest of the NCIS headquarters. Already exhausted, Gibbs' team were too busy thinking about the numerous theories and vague 'what if's that had already punched too many holes in their case; a case which had been so closed to being solved only seconds before it had been plummeted back to square one. It was barely even midday, and in the five hours since they had started work the team had followed three separate leads, narrowed down the main suspect and approached him. However, they were not the only ones. Somebody else had the same idea, the same reasoning as them, and had approached him first. Unfortunately, this had happened to be a certain someone whom they had no means of identifying, but this someone also had some access to some hard chemicals and knew how to use them - or more specifically, they knew how to use them to poison their target.

Undetectable, Ducky had informed them. Whichever drug or chemical had been used in the murder of the suspect, it hadn't been picked up on the toxicology screens he had run. It was only when another lead turned up that he had performed further tests and discovered the toxins still lingering within their victim. With a sample on the way to Abby, Ducky had covered up the body and instructed Palmer to store their dead Petty Officer away while he spoke with Gibbs. At this, the rest of the team had been sent back upstairs, wordlessly ordered to find out who the hell was behind this before somebody else had to die for it. One look said it all, and Gibbs needed no words to get what he wanted from his agents. They knew that a killer on the loose was far more important than running out for lunch or coffee, no matter how desperately they craved it.

The team had changed in four and a half years. Ziva had returned from Israel four and a half years ago now, which seemed to have jumped forward a lot quicker than Tony thought as he collapsed into his desk chair. Right beside his monitor was two photograph frames, one made of silver, typically displaying the closest thing to a wedding photo he'd ever own; a photograph he considered to be one of his favourites. It had been taken in Ducky's house when they had been dancing for the first time as man and wife. Ziva was wearing that green dress that showed off all her child bearing curves, curves that he adored and was glad that she had never lost. Cradled against her chest in this photograph was their son, Shai, who was six months old at the time. So tiny, so fragile, so perfect.

The second photograph was more recent, taken only a year ago. It had been taken exactly five hours after his daughter had been born. It had been a long time before Tony and Ziva had even considered having another child together, mainly because Ziva still had an underlying fear that her father would come for Shai, let alone have another child to place in such danger. The conception of their daughter, however, had been an accident, yet remembering that smile when he had returned from a run and found her seated on the side of the bed, he knew instantly what it was she was waiting to tell him. They had named their daughter Rhia, and in the photograph beside his wedding photo was the first place tie for his favourite snap. Sure, you could blatantly see the arms of Abby and Tony in the photo, but it didn't change the fact that it was clearly Shai holding his newborn baby sister in his arms, a look of such excitement on his face was the little girl grabbed onto his little finger.

Ziva no longer worked as an agent at NCIS. He couldn't deny that he missed looking up and seeing her opposite him, even though it had been almost six years since she had sat at that desk, but that made no difference to him. She was, and always would be, his favourite partner. Agent Jessica Saunders was an excellent agent, to be sure. There was no doubt that she belonged on their team with her intuition and skills, but she would never be Ziva, and Tony would never even attempt to have the kind of relationship with his new partner that he had with Ziva.

Tony was already exhausted when he arrived at work, considering that Rhia had decided that she didn't want to sleep the night before, and that everyone in the house needed to be awake with her. It was strange, considering she had always been such a good sleeper, but she had been a bit feverish, which explained it. Fighting back the sigh clogging in his chest, he stood up, pacing around the squad room to try and clear his mind.

"Right, what do we know?" he asked, immediately falling into his 'I'm the boss when Gibbs isn't here' routine.

"Three murders, all poisoned," McGee started.

"One of whom _was _our main suspect," Jessica pointed out.

"Our killer has to have access to chemicals, especially to make this so undetectable," McGee elaborated.

"So, we're looking for a professional," Tony nodded. "What do the victims have in common?"

Jessica looked down at her list. Checking, double checking, triple checking…

"_Well_?" he asked.

"Nothing," she concluded reluctantly.

"There has to be something," he insisted. "We have to be missing _something_."

"There's nothing," she confirmed.

"First victim was Petty Officer Claudia Roberts," McGee recited. "Husband and two teenage daughters. She was found dead by her car in her daughters' school parking lot."

"Second victim was Lieutenant Peter Mitchell," Jessica read off the service record before her. "No wife, no kids. Discovered by his neighbour, face down in the garden roses."

"And our third victim was our suspect," Tony finished. He ran his hands over his face, trying to force some energy out of nowhere. "There has to be something," he repeated.

Tony's phone rang and he grabbed it, leaning over the front of his desk. "Special Agent DiNozzo," he answered.

"_Tony_,"

There was no mistaking the voice, but he was shocked to hear such an emotional tone to it.

"Ziva?" he asked. "Everything okay?"

McGee watched as Tony dropped the confident exterior he had just adopted. Suddenly things didn't seem so much about the case anymore. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that something bad had happened from the way that Tony answered stoically and with a hand running through his already dishevelled hair, but he just didn't know what, and from Tony's reactions and words, he wasn't sure he wanted to ask.

"_What_?!…What do you mean, is everything okay?…What happened?…When did this start?…Okay, calm down, it's okay. I'm on my way right now. I'll be there soon….okay, just stay _right there_, I'm coming. I love you."

With that, he put the phone down, staring at the desk in front of him. He let out one single, shaking breath, and McGee got up from his desk going over to him. "Tony, everything okay?" he asked.

Tony shook his head, actually biting his lip as he raised his eyes to that of the younger agent, his Probie - even after all these years. There was something in his eyes, something that scared him…something that told him that whatever Ziva had said to him on the phone was something that he definitely didn't want to know. Then, just like that, Tony jumped into action, sweeping everything into his bag in one swift, well-practiced motion.

"Tony, what's going on?" he asked again, realising after a moment that it could have only been one thing, especially when Tony stopped for a moment to look at a particular photograph frame on his desk. "Is it the kids?"

Tony nodded. "Hospital," he said, his voice rushed and anxious. "I have to get to the hospital, _now_."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know," he shook his head. "Ziva doesn't know. Whatever it is…_no one _knows."

"Shai or Rhia?" he asked hesitantly.

"Both of them," he mumbled, his eyes looking down at the photograph for answers that he hadn't been told.

-------

"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he entered the squad room thirty minutes later. McGee looked up, his expression saddened and panicked for a moment, but he was saved from answered when Gibbs' cell rang. "Yeah, Gibbs," he answered.

"_Boss, it's me_."

"DiNozzo," he greeted gruffly. "Where the Hell are you?"

"_At the hospital. Bethesda. Our killer found his next victims_."

"Victims?" he repeated. "It's a multiple."

"_Two kids_."

"Still alive?"

"Yeah."

"The parents been informed?" he asked.

"_Yeah, the parents are here_," Tony whispered. "_We're here_."

And then, he just knew. He stopped what he was doing, and just stared at the desk before him. "Tony…"

"_It's our kids, boss. It's Shai and Rhia…" _Tony's voice changed somewhat, and he started to sound rather desperate. "_They've been poisoned, boss. We don't know how, but….but they keep crying for us, and Shai's not even trying to be brave like he normally does. They're crying for us, really screaming, but the doctors won't…they won't let us go to them. They won't even tell us what they're going to do_…"

"Tony," he cut him off.

"_Yes, boss_."

"Stay where you are," he instructed softly. "I'm on my way."

----------

Tony hung up the phone, staring at it for a moment before he reacted. Gibbs was on his way. That was good. Gibbs would know what to do. He'd take one look at the situation and have an answer for everything. He put his phone back in his pocket, remembering how the nurse had glared at him when he first dialled Gibbs' number, angrily pointing to a sign that read 'no cell phones'. A flash of his badge had sorted that out, even if the nurse hadn't looked that please about it.

He went back into the emergency room, or rather, the hall outside it which he and Ziva had been forced to wait in. He'd barged in, found his wife sitting there almost hysterically as she filled out forms, endless forms about their children's health, height, weight, allergies, any medications, full medical history. He'd taken one look at the pile of paper beside his wife and headed to the reception desk, demanded to know where Shai and Rhia were, and what, exactly, had happened to them. He'd been told to calm down and that someone would be out shortly to explain what was happening. Of course, this wasn't good already, but it had been worse when he had sat down beside Ziva, relieved her of the forms and drawn her into his arms just as they heard what sounded like Shai coughing up that morning's breakfast and begging for his mother. This had only made Ziva more distressed because she couldn't go to him.

A doctor came out moments after to explain it to them. A foreign toxin in their bloodstreams. More than likely ingested, although they couldn't be certain at this stage. Poisoned. Their young son and baby daughter had been _poisoned_.

Now, Ziva was sat in one of the waiting area chairs, one of the more uncomfortable ones with plastic covered seats. Beside her was a pile of magazines and books for very young children, but she was paying them no attention unlike the man at the other end of their row of chairs. That man was sat flicking through a celebrity glossy as if he had really been seated in the park, whereas Ziva was perched on the edge of her seat, clutching tightly to her star of David necklace and staring into nothing. Tony approached her, sitting beside her, but she didn't notice him. In fact, she didn't even move until he placed his hands over hers, if not to ease the trembling then to prevent her snapping the chain on her necklace.

"I called Gibbs," he told her softly, when she finally reacted and grasped his hands tightly.

"Is he coming?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the door before them, the door that they weren't allowed to go through. The door that prevented them from taking care of their sick children.

He nodded. "He's on his way right now. Did the doctors tell you anything more?"

She shook her head, fighting to keep her lips from trembling. "They will not tell me anything. They…they will not tell me," she told him, determined not to break down as she rested her head on his shoulder.

He immediately wrapped one arm around her shoulder, holding her tightly to him whilst still gripping her hand. His lips found the side of her head. "They're going to be okay," he assured her, desperately attempting to keep his own voice from wavering.

She took a shuddering breath against him, and he could tell that she was holding back sobs. "Somebody has _hurt _them, Tony," she half-whimpered, a sound he had not heard from her since she first walked back into the squad room with Shai at six months old, begging him to save them. "They are just _children_. Somebody has done this to them deliberately. _Why_?"

He settled for saying nothing, and just kissing her hair once again, if only because he couldn't bare to tell her that this was more than likely a revenge attack against them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

_And I can barely look at you_

_But every single time I do_

_I know we'll make it anywhere_

_Away from here_

Silently, they sat, and silently, the waited. No words were needed because there were none that could make this any better. So, with arms around one another for support, the waited, because waiting was all they could do. They waited, ignoring all urges to burst through the doors to the emergency room to be with their petrified sick children, to jump over the counter and demand that they be told exactly what was happening, to take out their desperation on anyone or anything without consequence, because none of this was going to help their children. All they could do was wait in the eerie calm of the hospital hall, clinging to one another and praying that their children would be okay.

Waiting soon became worse than not knowing what was happening. Ziva had stood up and began to pace, wringing her hands into so many positions that Tony was sure she was dislocating several bones to do so. After a minute of watching her, he found that he, too, was wringing his hands in a similar way, at a loss of anything else to do. He stood up, and as he did she stopped her pacing. She wouldn't raise her eyes to his, but when he pulled her into his arms he knew that she was as helpless as he was because she didn't even try to put up a fight. Usually when she felt this helpless she would fight his help until she was ready to admit that she needed it. The only times she had done it without question was when she first escaped back to America, and when Rhia had been born with the cord still wrapped around her neck. Only then had Ziva sunk into his arms like she was doing now - no fighting, no resistance, just an unquenchable thirst for comfort.

He held her tightly in his arms, so close that he hoped they could draw strength from each other, but nothing seemed to work. No matter how tightly she threw her arms around him he didn't feel the pain fading. The only thing that made him feel a little hope in the middle of the empty hall was that Ziva wasn't pushing him away. But he still couldn't do anything. He could hold his wife and not complain about the fact that her arms were steadily preventing all blood flow to his upper body, but that didn't do any good for the two tiny people he should have been able to protect.

Shai and Rhia.

His _children_.

_Their _children.

He was their father.

He should have protected them.

Suddenly, Ziva ripped herself from his arms and marched away from him. He would have followed her but he knew exactly where she was going; back to the reception desk to demand to be told why she knew nothing about her children's condition. He collapsed back into the chair he'd been in before. How was this happening?

"DiNozzo."

And then there was someone else. Someone who wasn't Ziva. Gibbs. Gibbs was there. Right beside him, sitting in the chair that Ziva had vacated in favour of yelling at the nurses. Why was he there, though? Gibbs shouldn't be comforting him. That wasn't why Tony had called him. He'd called him because Ziva needed him. Of course, Tony would trust no other person on the entire planet to bring his bastard to justice, but it was mainly for Ziva's ease of mind. He should be with Ziva. Someone should be with Ziva.

"_Ziva_…" he mumbled, his voice coming out strained. He hadn't actually spoken since he'd had the small conversation with Ziva after hanging up the phone from Gibbs.

"Abby's with her," Gibbs told him simply. "Tell me how this happened. What do you know?"

It wasn't a question as much as order. Tony looked up at him, and if his boss was at all shocked to see the helplessness in his bleak eyes, he didn't show it. "That…that _bastard _has hurt my kids," he said, his voice so soft and yet, at the same time, filled with a rage that Gibbs had never heard from Tony before. Having finally admitted it, it began to sink in completely. He shut his eyes against the rush of emotion, clenching his fist until his knuckles showed white. "Our _kids_, boss…our son, our little girl…I don't know what I should do. They won't tell us what's going on."

Before Gibbs could answer, Ziva came marching back down the hall, Abby following her as best she could in her platform boots. Ziva went over to the door to the emergency room and Tony was up on his feet in a flash when he realised that she was planning on going though those doors. He put his hands on her upper arms, holding her in place where she stood.

"No, Ziva, _no_. We _can't_. We have to stay here."

"I need to go in there," she said, shaking her head.

"Ziva, you heard what they said-"

"Tony, _let me go_!" she said, struggling against his hold, but he only held her tighter, bringing her closer into his arms so that she was pressed against his chest.

"No, Ziva," he said, even though denying her the chance to be near her children when being separated from them was her greatest fear was hurting him as much as it was hurting her.

"I _need _to be in there," she repeated. "I _need _to be with my children."

"Ziva, you can't," he told her. "_We can't_."

She stopped struggling, her eyes remaining on the door that separated them from her children. Slowly, she turned, before collapsing against Tony and clinging to him tightly once again. With his arms already around her he just had to adjust his grip so that his arms were wrapped around her back. "What is _taking _them so long?" she demanded as she buried her face into his neck, fighting for a way to hide from everything.

"I don't know," he admitted weakly, as he, too, decided to hide for a moment. Lowering his head, he let out a deep sigh when his face was caressed by her dark hair, still smelling sweet from that morning's shower.

A door swung open, and all four occupants of the hall looked up sharply, Tony and Ziva still wrapped up in each other. However, they were disappointed when it was just an orderly who came through the doors. Before the doors shut, they were offered a tiny glimpse down the corridor and both parents strained their necks to try and see either of their children. They saw neither Shai nor Rhia, but gently heard the cry of a young boy, one who sounded so scared yet so weak. The doors shut again and Ziva returned her head to Tony's shoulder, letting a single frustrated sob.

"_Shai_," she whispered, even though her son could not hear her. "He is in there, Tony."

"I know," he whispered back, still staring at those closed doors. He'd never heard Shai cry like that before. _Never_.

"He is in there. He is scared and we cannot go to him," she rambled.

"Parents of Shai and Rhia DiNozzo?" a voice asked them.

They looked up, seeing the doctor now standing beside them. "Yes, we are here."

"I'm Dr. Michael Ashby," he introduced himself. "I'm the medic in charge of your children."

"Can I be with my children now?" Ziva asked hurriedly.

"I'm afraid that there is an urgent matter we need to discuss first," he told them, as he lead them down the hall and into a side room where the all took seats at a conference table.

"What's happening?" Tony asked. "Why aren't we allowed to see them?"

"Unfortunately, our initial suspicions were correct," Dr. Ashby told them gravely. "Your son and your daughter have both been administered with a toxin."

Ziva's face paled, and she held onto Tony's arm. "How did this happen?" Tony asked.

"Have the children come into contact with a powdered substance within the last twenty-four hours?" he asked them. "One that would have been ingested?"

"Wait, you mean this happened _at home_?" Tony asked incredulously. "Someone came into _our home _and laced their food with poison."

Ziva stared off into space. "The doughnut," she remembered.

Tony looked sharply at her, confused. "What doughnut?"

"You returned home for lunch yesterday," she reminded him. "I was at the park with Rhia. When we returned there was a doughnut left on the worktop, I assumed you had left it from your lunch. A powdered doughnut. Shai ate half of it before his dinner, and I let Rhia chew on a bit of it."

"What time was this?" the doctor asked her.

"Around three-thirty," she remembered. "I did not want Shai to eat all of it before dinner…_oh my_…" she realised, her face paling even more to the point where she looked like she might be sick. "I poisoned my own children."

"No, no, you didn't-" he rushed to defend her.

"I gave them the doughnut, Tony!" she exploded. "_I gave it to them_!"

"Mr and Mrs. DiNozzo," the doctor interrupted them. "This toxin is unlike one we've ever seen before, and we had to run three screens before it was even discovered. Shai and Rhia's condition is deteriorating rapidly, and unless we can learn more about this toxin and quickly, their bodies may not be able to cope with the effects."

"What does that mean?" Tony asked.

"Are you telling us that our children are going to _die_?" Ziva asked, her voice shaking.

Dr. Ashby paused for a second, but just long enough for the parents to understand how dire the situation actually was. "It's a possibility we're doing our very best to avoid," he said. "I have to go back now, but I can promise you that I'll personally update you regularly."

And then he was gone, just as quickly as he had appeared. Tony bought Ziva into his arms before she even had the chance to fight this time, and this time she didn't hold back her sobs. "They will come through this," Tony spoke into her ear, fighting back his own fears.

"You do not know that," she cried.

"Zi, they'll be fine."

"Children die all the time," she pointed out.

"I know," he nodded. "But I believe that Shai and Rhia will survive this."

"I am _so _sorry," she sobbed, clutching him tighter.

"For what?" he asked her.

"This is my fault."

He pulled her back, looking directly into her eyes. "Ziva. Don't."

She shook her head, tears still falling rapidly down her cheeks. "No, this was my fault," she repeated. "I am their _mother_, Tony, and I did not know that somebody had hurt them until now. I am a _terrible _mother," she cried, her face crumbling at her admission as she bought her hands up to cover her face.

Tony took her hands away, holding them in his own as he leaned forward to kiss her. It was rough, hardly passionate, but it was a tiny help to them both. When he pulled back, he stared into her eyes so that she could see his unshed tear. "_Don't. EVER. Say that again_" he told her, his voice dangerously fierce and almost a growl. Ziva was a wonderful mother; everything she had ever done since she knew she was pregnant with Shai had been for her children. She had never let her children down and he refused to let her believe that now.

"Do you really believe that they will be okay?" she asked him.

His face almost melted at her words. "How can you ask me something like that?"

She shook her head slowly. "Because I have not seen you look so afraid since Rhia was born."

He closed his eyes for a moment. Did he really look that bad? Rhia's birth had been traumatic for all, to say the least, especially with the fragile moments when the doctors had been fighting to keep her breathing. "Ziva, I-" he was interrupted when the doors to the emergency room opened once more and a nurse came over to them.

"Mr and Mrs DiNozzo?" she asked.

"Yes," Tony said, as Ziva was still too emotional to answer.

"Dr. Ashby has informed us to keep you up to speed on all developments in your children's condition," she said, almost as if she were reciting it from a textbook. She probably was, seeing as she barely looked old enough to be out of school.

"What's happening?" Tony asked.

"We're moving the children into separate rooms," she explained. "Your daughter will be in the NICU, which is the intensive care unit exclusively for babies and children under one year of age, and your son will be in the general ICU area."

"Intensive care," Tony breathed, his shuddering started to transfer onto Ziva. When had he started shaking? "That's bad, right?"

"At this stage, we're just taking every precaution necessary," the nurse assured them,

"If that is where they are, then we should be there too," Ziva said to Tony.

The nurse didn't look too pleased about this. "Ma'am, I can understand that you're very concerned right now…"

"Concerned?" Ziva repeated, absurdly curling the world. "_Concerned_? My children have been poisoned, more than likely by a _serial killer _who _cannot be traced_!"

"Be that as it may, ma'am, I don't have clearance to allow you into the ward yet," she said. "I can take you up to the family room, however, so that you can be closer to them."

"You do not understand, I _must _see my son," she said, slowly panning out her words. Then, she turned this insistence to Tony. "He _hates _doctors, Tony, you _know _this."

"I know," he said softly, his hand rubbing her shoulder.

"We cannot leave him alone like this, he will be terrified. He does not even know we are here!"

Tony closed his eyes again, trying to find some control in the situation but failing. "Come on," he said, using one arm to guide her after the nurse. "Let's go to this family room and see how things are up there," he said, knowing they could do little else. "At least we can be close to them."

**How are you all liking it so far? I loved all the reviews for the first chapter, thank you so much everyone who reviewed :D It really brightened my days (and I've been ill the past few days so I mean seriously brightened). Honestly, I really hate to sound fussy with this, but it'd be really nice if the people who like this story enough to add it to their favourites and alert this could leave a review as well? Even if it's just a couple of words, I'd really appreciate it. Seriousy, it'd mean the world :)**

**Thanks,**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Right Beside You**

_Light up, light up_

_As if you have a choice_

_Even if you cannot hear my voice_

_I'll be right beside you, dear_

Three hours later, and they were still no closer to finding out what was happening. Gibbs and Abby had come up to the family room with them, and then Ducky had arrived soon afterwards. McGee wanted to come, to be with 'the family' in what was clearly a time of need, but somebody had to lead the case in Gibbs' absence. It had been Gibbs, however, to brief Ducky on the situation at hand, as Tony and Ziva had sat together a couple of chairs down from them and had seemingly disappeared into a world of their own. As promised, the nurses and doctors, different every time, appeared to keep them updated on Shai and Rhia's conditions, but there was never any hopeful news.

Tony held Ziva against him. She had leaned her head onto his shoulder again, their hands entwined on their laps, as soon as they had been escorted to the family room inside the intensive care unit. The only time they would raise their hands from staring at the entwined hands was when someone walked into the room. It was the same every time, however: they would be told their update, a continued rise in fever and still vomiting and then the nurse would leave. Then, they would return to their own shared thoughts, blocking out the rest of the world.

Tony could remember with a shuddering vividness the terror that he'd felt when Rhia had been born. So small, so fragile…not crying, not breathing, not moving…it was like nothing else that he'd ever felt. The sight of his daughter coming into the world limp and blue was something he hadn't prepared himself for, even when the doctors had informed them that the cord had wrapped around her neck. Having been separated from Ziva at the time of Shai's birth, he could only imagine how scary it was to first have given birth completely alone, and now to be surrounded by help but with the thought that their daughter might not survive. For him, the fear had been so new to him that he was sure that he'd never feel anything like it again, but in the past few hours it had been all he'd been able to feel. Their children had been hurt in the place where they should never have come to any harm, and he was helpless to the nagging voice in the back of his head, the voice that told him the blatant and obvious truth.

_Daddy wasn't there to save you._

_Daddy might not be able to fix things this time._

_Daddy didn't do what he promised to do._

_Daddy didn't keep you safe._

_Daddy failed._

Ducky was before them, breaking his thoughts, crouching on the ground to attract their attention. That can't have been easy on his aging bones, but he was still there. This was the man that had been there when they were falling apart, the man who had assured them first off that Shai was perfectly healthy, despite being deprived of healthcare in the first six months of life by Ziva's father. This was the man who kept them safe in his home during the hours when they feared that Ziva's father could still try and take them from each other. The same man who treated Shai like his own grandson, making sure that he went along to all Shai's doctors appointments because there was no other doctor he would trust. This was Ducky, who captivated their son's imagination with his stories - the man who had left work in the middle of an autopsy to come to their sides.

"I had been meaning to call last night, but I'm afraid it slipped my mind," he said, speaking softly. "How did young Shai do at his try-outs?"

Try-outs. School. Soccer try-outs.

Tony allowed a glimmer of a smile to cross his face. "He made the team," he said proudly.

Yes, Daddy might not have been there to keep them safe from a serial killer, but Daddy had been there when Shai scored his first even goal on his first real team. Tony's father had never been there when he played sports as a child, which is why he was determined to make it to every game that Shai ever played, and why he promised his baby daughter when she was two days old that whatever she wanted to do, be that dancing, music, or even sports like her brother, he'd be there to watch her as well.

For a moment, as Tony remembered the way that Shai had celebrated his first goal, how his five-year-old son's first instinct in his moment of glory was to turn his head and see whether or not his father had seen his goal, he forgot that his strong little boy was possibly hours away from death in a room they were not allowed to enter.

"Mr and Mrs DiNozzo?" a young nurse asked from the doorway. She wasn't as young as the first nurse who had spoken to them, but she seemed more experienced. Or at least, she didn't speak as though her words were memorised from her latest lecture on patient care and bedside manner.

"Can we see them?" Ziva asked, her voice quiet as if she couldn't bear to be told 'no' anymore.

The nurse nodded. "Yes."

-----------

They were taken to Rhia first. It was scary, terrifying even, to see their baby daughter in such a fragile state. Ziva was speechless, stopping in the doorway. She took one look at the numerous drips and monitors hooked up to her tiny girl and all the fighting she'd displayed in the hall hours before vanished from her completely. She stopped in her tracks, unable to take another step forward because the sight shook her so much.

"Don't be alarmed, Mrs DiNozzo," the nurse assured her. "All of this is to help her."

"_Look _at her," she simply murmured.

They stepped up to the side of the hospital crib, ignoring the equipment around her as best they could. Rhia was grizzling weakly, as if she both wanted and needed to cry but didn't have the energy anymore. Ziva instantly reached into the crib with both arms, but the nurse stopped her before she could touch her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs DiNozzo," she said sadly. "We can't risk any of the IV's becoming unhooked."

Ziva looked crestfallen. "I cannot hold her?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I'm sorry."

The nurse returned to where she was studying some of Rhia's notes at the other side of the room, and Ziva looked up at Tony. "I cannot hold her," she repeated, her voice a whisper of defeat.

"That doesn't mean we can't let her know that we're here," he pointed out. Ignoring both the pointed look that the nurse gave him, he took Ziva's hand in his, placing them both in the crib and touching them to Rhia's face. Ziva's hand remained on her cheek while Tony started to stroke her whisping dark hair. "_Rhia_…" he cooed gently. Sensing that somebody was there to hear her cries, Rhia cried harder. "Hey, butterfly," he said softly, using the nickname he'd used since she was born. "Mommy and daddy are here. Shh, it's okay."

Rhia's eyes pried themselves open, and it was obvious to them both know much of an effort this was to her, but she recognised the comforting presence of her parents. "Momma. Dada."

A watery smile appeared on Ziva's lips. Momma and Dada, the only words she spoke at the moment. She knew that Tony was desperately waiting for the moment when she said 'daddy' instead of 'dada'. She could remember how ecstatic he'd been when Shai had said it for the first time. She had stuck to her decision to have her children call her 'momma' rather than 'ima'. Although Israel was still her home country, she wanted her family's home country to be America. She wanted Shai and Rhia to see Israel, to see the beautiful country their mother had been able to appreciate for many years of her life, but she would not risk taking them there while her father was in such a position of power. The danger to them would be too great to risk it.

"Momma is here," she said gently. "Momma is right here, tateleh."

"_Momma_," Rhia cried.

Ziva knew that cry. The 'make it better' cry. The one that she knew she couldn't calm this time. "I am _sorry_, neshomeleh, I cannot hold you," she said, shaking her head. Rhia didn't understand this of course. She was so young, all that she knew was that she was hurting and she wanted a cuddle, but they weren't giving her that. She continued to cry when she realised that she wasn't going to get this cuddle no matter how much she reached for it, and that only broke their hearts more. "But I am right here," Ziva continued. "I am right here, Rhia."

A grizzling Rhia reached her hands out, taking hold of the hand Tony was stroking across her hair, holding it within her tiny fingers as if to bring him in closer to her. "_Dada_," she sobbed.

"Hey, butterfly. Daddy's here too," he mumbled. He could only watch helplessly as Rhia tugged weakly on his hand, and he changed the way his arm rested on the side of the crib so that he could stroke the top of her hand - one of the few comforts he could offer other than his voice. "Is Daddy's girl poorly?" Rhia understood this, and nodded against his hand. "You'll feel better soon, baby girl. I promise."

Ziva looked sharply at Tony. _Could _he promise that?

He caught her eye at her movement. "Ziva…"

She hurriedly looked back down at their daughter, who was now attempting to cover herself with Tony's arm. "It is not the first time we have not been allowed to hold her," she remembered, unable to shake the feeling of when they had whisked her away after her birth, and they had not been allowed to hold her through her first night in this world until the doctors were certain her breathing had stabilised.

"It doesn't make it any easier," he sighed, wishing that he could give into his fatherly instinct and lift Rhia out of the crib, taking her away from the doctors who were doing little more than scaring her at this point. As she pulled his hand against her again, he could feel how high her fever was rising.

"No," Ziva agreed. "If anything, it makes it worse."

-----

They had stayed with Rhia as long as they were allowed to, whispering gentle words until she had begun to fall asleep. Only then, when the fingers around her father's hand became limp, did the nurses take over and usher them from the room. It was only knowing that they were now allowed to see Shai that they let themselves be moved from their daughter's side. Of course, they had been desperate to see him too, but they would not hear their daughter's scream as she believed her parents were walking away from her, and decided to stay until she was calm enough for them to move on.

Seeing Shai was not reassuring to them, however. He was lying on his side in the bed, coughing hoarsely as though he had only just stopped vomiting seconds before they entered the room, right over the container that the nurse beside him held. Within seconds of noticing this, the hands that held him comfortably in position were replaced with his mother's. Ziva didn't hesitate in the doorway as she had done with Rhia, because she couldn't bare to see someone who didn't know how much Shai despised being sick attempting to comfort him.

"Mom," he croaked, when he realised who was holding him.

"Hush, tateleh, I am here," she told him, just as she had done with Rhia.

"Mom, it _really _hurts!" he complained, wrapping his arms rightly around his stomach.

"Where does it hurt, Shai?" she asked.

"_Everywhere_," he whined.

The two parents shared a worried look, and Tony sat down on the opposite side of the bed, facing the little boy who was curling into his mother's arms. "Shai?"

"Dad?" he asked, lifting his head to look for him.

Tony smoothed down the now-wild curls. That morning they'd been combed through until they shone, but now they were fluffed in every direction because of his movement, held in place by the sheen of sweat covering his entire body. "Hey, bud, I'm right here."

"I think I'm a bit sick, Dad," he said, instantly trying to make himself look braver for his father. Even now, Tony's presense ignited the change between 'hurting everywhere' and 'a bit sick'.

Tony smiled at his innocence. Shai had no idea what was happening, what someone had done to him…thankfully, while his imagination was wild and creative, he was confident that Shai could never imagine something like this. "I think so too, little man. Think we can get you better?" Shai coughed and nodded. "That's the spirit."

Shai just curled back against Ziva, who kissed the top of his head and stroked his back. "I wanna go _home_," he whined. "I don't _like _it here."

"I know, Shai," she nodded.

"I don't _like _doctors."

"They're just here to help you, Shai," Tony told him. "They're going to make you better."

"Can't you make me better at home like last time?" he asked.

Ziva looked at the ceiling for a moment, still struggling with the thought that this wasn't normal. This wasn't how children were supposed to be sick. They were supposed to get the sniffles and a bit of a cough, if anything. They weren't supposed to be like this. When she looked back down, she saw her son looking up at her with pleading eyes. _Take me home, mom, _he was asking. "Sometimes, moms and dads need a bit of help from doctors," she tried to explain to him.

"Is Ree-ree sick too?" he asked, using the nickname for his sister that no one else used.

"Shai…"

"Did _I _get her sick?"

"_No_, Shai," Tony told him, a strength in his voice that seemed to come from nowhere. "_None _of this was your fault."

"She was screaming lots," Shai told them. "I heard her."

They wanted to stay longer, to ask more, to find out more, just to be with their weak and sick son, but Dr. Ashby appeared in the doorway, holding the chart that presumably held the children's test results on. "May I speak to you both outside for a moment," he asked them.

Ziva leaned down to Shai, whispering in his ear. "We are just going to speak to the doctor, _tei-yerinkeh_. We will just be outside the door."

Shai nodded, and cuddled up on his other side. Tony and Ziva stepped out of the room, finding that Gibbs and the others were all still there. "How are they?" Ziva asked instantly. "Are they improving?"

"At the moment their condition is still critical," he told them. "If it is true that the doughnut was the source of the toxin and that neither of them ingested the entire source, then it means that they haven't consumed enough of the poison to kill them as quickly as your culprit has intended. Rhia has been most affected, even though she ingested the smallest amount, as her immune system hasn't fully developed yet. Shai has stopped vomiting for the moment, which seems to have him very pleased, but his fever hasn't gone down which is worrying. In all honesty, it's amazing that he's even conscious with a temperature this high and as far as we can tell, it's still rising steadily.

"But…he is awake," Ziva pointed out. "That is good, yes?"

"It's a deceptive," the doctor told them. "Not all things are that simple, especially when there is a toxin involved."

"It's _definitely _a toxin?" Tony asked.

"Yes."

"So, what happens now?" he asked. "How do we save them? How do we make this stop?"

"We need time," Dr. Ashby told them, "And more importantly, we need a vaccine."

"Is there a vaccine?" Ziva asked, turning between Gibbs and Tony.

"If this bastard hasn't made one he's certainly going to when I'm done with him," Gibbs growled as he came up to their side and addressing the doctor himself. "You said you needed time. How much?"

"As much as we can get."

"_You don't know_?!" Tony asked incredulously.

"We're doing all we can, sir-"

"_All you can_?" Tony repeated. "That's not _good _enough!"

"DiNozzo-"

"Tony-"

"_No_!" he cried, when both Gibbs and Ziva attempted to calm him. "No, it's not good enough. You're doctors. You're supposed to _save _people. You're supposed to save _them_!"

"That's what we're trying to do," Dr. Ashby assured him, before he turned and left.

When he was gone, Ziva silently wrapped her arms around Tony. He held her to him taking a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. "You holding up okay?" he asked her.

She shook her head against him. "They are just _children_."

"I know," he murmured.

"They do not deserve _any _of this."

"Ziva-"

"The doctors do not think they are going to survive," she whispered.

"They _will_," he said forcefully. "Shai and Rhia _will _survive this."

"They _have _to," she pleaded. "I do not know what I will do without them-"

"They're going to be fine," he urged, lifting her chin so that she was forced into looking at him. "In a week's time, everything will be back to normal. Shai will have another soccer game, and Rhia will get to wear that new dress you bought her. They'll be okay."

Ziva just looked at him as if he were clinically insane, shaking her head as tears started to gather once again. "You said that every other person who has been infected has died…and _now_…now, it is _our children_," she pointed out. "How are you not _terrified_?"

"I am," he revealed. "But I have hope."

She leaned against him, wrapping herself up in his arms and turning her head on his chest so that she could look through the window into Shai's room. He was now curled into a ball, fighting against painful stomach cramps that would no doubt signal more vomiting. "Our _son_…our _daughter_…" she whispered, so quietly that only Tony had heard her. "…all alone."

"We can't leave them both alone," he realised.

"We can swap between their rooms," she suggested. "Then they will know that we are both here for them."

"And they won't be alone," he nodded.

"No," she whispered. "Never."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Five: You Can't Raise Your Voice**

_Louder, louder_

_And we'll run for our lives_

_I can't hardly speak _

_I understand_

_Why you can't raise your voice to say_

The following morning dawned with less hope than they'd all have liked. While the sun outside was shining, birds were singing, and no doubt many people visited their relatives on the road to recovery in the same hospital, neither of the children made any progress. If anything, they were continuing to deteriorate. Yet they clung to what little hope they had, finding tiny miracles in the smallest of things - like how Shai was no longer crying. They forced themselves to believe that this was because he was feeling better, even though they really knew that it was because he was so exhausted and hoarse that he could barely make a sound, let alone find the energy to protest anything that the doctors he hated so much were doing. Nobody would say it, but all were afraid of the same thought; that at any moment the toxin would take hold indefinitely, taking both children into the same point of no return to which it had taken the three bodies lying down in autopsy.

The decision to stay with a child each had been the most logical, but how did you choose which child to stay with, when you were so fearful that either of them might not make it through the night. They visited Rhia, noting that she was in a restless sleep for the moment, so they decided to remain with Shai while he was attempting to fall asleep. Just as he became comfortable, Rhia's cries reached them from across the hall. Ziva had ended up spending the night in with Rhia, and Tony had remained at Shai's side. Knowing that Ziva would go crazy on her own, Tony had asked Abby to stay in with her, only to find that his wife had thought the same thing about him and he had ended up with Ducky at his side all night. He'd have preferred Gibbs, if only because Gibbs would appreciate the need for silence instead of stories, but Gibbs was more determined than ever to solve the case, so had headed back to NCIS with McGee to catch this bastard once and for all.

The sound of footsteps caused Tony to raise his head from his palm. He'd managed to find some strange balance with his elbow on the mattress in a way that didn't cause him to fall sideways whenever his eyes drooped. When he saw that Ducky had appeared at his side, he wondered when the elder man had actually left. Still, he was thankful for the Styrofoam coffee cup that he smelt before he had seen.

"For you," Ducky said, passing him the cup.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"I took a coffee to Ziva as well," he assured the younger man. "I know she prefers tea, but I believe a caffeine boost is in order for everyone this morning."

Tony nodded. "Any change in Rhia?" he asked.

"No," Ducky said softly. "She didn't appear to be crying as loudly, however. Although, that is probably due to her increasing weakness."

Tony sighed loudly, running his hand through his hair. "She must be exhausted. Once Shai fell asleep I could hear her crying all night."

Ducky placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "At least if she can get some sleep, she will escape the pain for a while," he reassured him.

"This isn't right," Tony shook his head. "Rhia's my little girl. My butterfly. I should be with her."

"Ziva's with her. She's not alone."

"Rhia has two parents," he stressed. "They should _both _be at her side when she needs them. The same goes for Shai."

As if on cue, Shai rolled his head over on the pillow. He opened for a fraction of a second, squinted at the bright light streaming through the blinds, and then closed them again. Tony leaned over, running his fingers through Shai's thick curls. "Morning, bud."

"Hi, Dad," Shai mumbled tiredly, his voice thick and scratchy.

"Still feel poorly?"

Shai nodded. "Tummy hurts. Don't think I'm gonna be sick no more."

"That's good, Shai," Tony tried to smile. "We don't like being sick, do we?"

Shai shook his head, but he still looked glum. "Still hurts."

"I know. We're going to find a way to make it stop hurting," he assured his son.

Ducky came over to the other side of the bed, patting Shai's shoulder gently. "And when your stomach doesn't hurt quite as much, I believe that you have a winning goal to tell me about."

"Ducky," he recognised.

"I am looking forward to that story," he smiled at the young boy. "It will make a change from me telling all the stories, won't it?" Shai nodded. It was a wonder to all of them how anybody could stand Ducky's stories for more than twenty minutes, but Shai lapped up each tale that the Scotsman told him as if hearing about old musket balls and 'back in the day' stories were just as exciting as Tony's watered down version of Star Wars and The Italian Job for bedtime stories.

Shai tried to speak, but grimaced and rolled back towards Tony. In response, he sat up on the side of the bed, drawing his son into his arms. "Shai?"

"Dad, it _really hurts_!" he whined.

"I know, Shai, I know, but you're being so brave," he assured him, holding him tightly against his chest. "So brave, such a good boy."

They remained that way for some time, Shai trying not to cry as he clung to Tony with what little strength he had. When he lay back on the mattress, curling up and clutching the pillow like a stuffed animal, Tony continued to sit on the bed, stroking his hear and whispering things to him to calm him down. Ducky remained in the background, hovering hear the door. However, after half an hour passed, the sounds from the hall changed. Rhia's crying wasn't the most dominant sound anymore, and Abby appeared in the doorway.

"Tony," she stammered.

"What?" he asked, turning away from Shai, but keeping his hand on his back. "What is it?"

"You have to come. _Now_."

"Go, Anthony," Ducky nodded. "I will stay with Shai."

Tony kissed his son's forehead and then followed Abby out into the hall. There, he saw a nurse preventing Ziva from entering Rhia's room. Perhaps more shocking was the hysterical tears that were falling from Ziva's eyes. He rushed over to her, placing his arms around her. "Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" he asked her.

Sobbing, she looked up at him with her hand covering her mouth, the other arm clawing at his chest to get a hold on his shirt. "I thought she was _dead_…." she cried. "I thought my baby was _dead_."

It was then that Tony noticed the hassle in Rhia's room - doctors rushing around, loud beeping, more machines…it was terrifying. What had happened?

"What's happening?" he asked the doctor who walked past them out of the room. It wasn't Dr. Ashby, who was in charge of dealing with Shai and Rhia, but it was a doctor caring for their child nonetheless.

"Your daughter's body temperature is escalating to a dangerous level. We're fighting to lower it."

Tony let out a shuddering breath. "Oh god."

"I have to go in there." Ziva said, determination strangled in her choked sob.

The doctor held up a hand. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't authorise that right now."

"I do not care," she shook her head, trying to push past him.

"Ziva-" Tony said, his own voice catching in his throat as he held onto her arm.

"No, Tony," she shot back at him. "I _need _to go in there. I need to be with my baby."

"We can't-" he started to argue, but she cut him off.

"That is our _daughter_, Tony," she pointed out, gesturing to the tiny form almost lost amid the doctors, machinery and tubes. "Our little girl. She is _alone_, and she is _afraid_…and…and she is crying for us and we are not allowed to go to her." Another tear fell across her cheek, and she made no move to wipe it away. "Rhia _needs _us, Tony."

Tony tore his eyes away from the despairing ones of his wife, and looked at the doctor. "Please," he whispered to the bearded man. "She's so scared." He wasn't quite sure who he was taking about - his daughter, or his wife.

The doctor, however, looked at them regretfully. "I'm sorry, we need room to work right now."

As he disappeared, Ziva threw her arms around Tony's neck, crushing the two of them against each other. "She was screaming for me, Tony," she told him.

"Shh…" he soothed, unable to give her the assurance that it would be okay.

"She was _screaming _for me," she repeated. "And I was not allowed to help her. I was not allowed to hold her and make things better like a mother is _supposed _to do. I was not allowed to."

-----------

Hours later, they were still outside Rhia's room, standing and waiting to be told they could see her. They had spent the past few hours darting between Rhia's corridor and Shai, torn once again between not wanting their children to be alone, but not wanting to be apart from the other either. Every now and again, Dr. Ashby came out and explained what they were doing. First, blood tests. Then more tests. Tony didn't follow. He was just waiting for the words 'she's okay', but he never heard them.

"She has been like this for hours," Ziva stressed when Dr Ashby came out yet again. "What is taking so long?"

"I'm afraid that we've never seen anything like this before, Mrs. DiNozzo," he told her, before softly adding the words they had been afraid of hearing the entire time. "We are doing everything we can, however, you should maybe being to prepare yourselves."

As he left their side and returned to the more needing side of their daughter, Tony and Ziva turned to one another slowly, "Prepare ourselves?" Ziva repeated. "Do they think she is…?"

"She's going to be fine," Tony mumbled instantly.

Ziva shook her head slowly. "Sometimes you are wrong, Tony."

"Ziva…" he began, but she turned away from him, facing into the windowed room where their tiny daughter lay fighting for her life.

"She cannot be dying," she whispered in disbelief. Tony stood up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder as they gazed at their fragile daughter together. "Tony, our daughter cannot be dying, can she?"

----------

That evening, they were finally allowed to see their daughter again. Shai had started vomiting again, so he had gone back to sit with his son. Rhia didn't move, she didn't cry, and she didn't whimper. Instead, she just looked around her, settling every now and again on Ziva with a pitiful begging expression. Ziva just hung her arm over the crib, rhythmically stroking her daughter's cheek to let her know that she wasn't alone. She was pulled from her side, however, when Dr. Ashby requested their permission to do something she hadn't ever imagined she'd hear about her daughter.

"You wish to _what_?" she asked.

"Due to the reaction she portrayed this morning, we've decided that it's best for Rhia's health if we induce a coma," he explained.

"You are putting my daughter into a coma?" she repeated.

"If will slow the effects of the poison on her body until the vaccine can be administered," he told her. "And given her delicate immune system and being so young, we believe that this is the best option for her right now."

"Not yet," Ziva whispered, shaking her head.

"Excuse me?"

"Not yet," she repeated, louder. "She needs to hear our voices, first. I need my husband to be here."

She walked out of the room, heading to the room where her son lay. She went immediately to her son's side, stroking back his curls and kissing his forehead. "_Shalom, neshomeleh_," she whispered.

"Momma," he murmured back, half asleep.

"I am here, _tateleh_, Try to sleep."

Without another word, Shai settled back onto his pillow, his eyes remaining closed. When she rose up, Tony looked at her. "Everything okay?" he asked her with a frown.

"You need to come to Rhia for a moment," she told him.

"What happened?" he asked, rising to his feet.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "The doctors have decided that it would be best if she was not conscious until a vaccine is found," she told him.

Tony frowned even more. "I thought they already sedated her after this morning?"

"Yes, but she is waking up now, and they think that the toxin will not work as quickly if she is not awake, so…"

"So…_what_?" he asked.

She sighed, tugging her ragged hair behind her ears. "They are putting her into a medically induced coma, Tony,"

"They want to put our daughter into a _coma_?" he repeated absurdly.

"That is what I said."

"Can they do that?"

She nodded. "They are already preparing. I…I do not know how long this will be for, so I thought while she was awake you may wish to…"

She trailed off, not wanting to admit that she was afraid that her daughter may not wake up again, but she didn't have to. Tony nodded, understanding her fears. "Yeah, of course," he said, looking over at Abby, who had stayed in with him for the remainder of the morning. "Abs, would you mind?"

"Course not," she smiled, trying to offer some hope. "You go be with Rhia, I'll hold down the fort here."

"Thank you, Abby," Ziva nodded.

"No problem."

-------

Tony felt helpless as he looked down at his daughter, so weak in the crib that she almost seemed newborn again, hardly the thirteen month old girl that she was. She was waking up properly, and was whimpering again now, making her discomfort very well known to those around her. "Can I hold her?" he asked, looking around at Dr Ashby for an answer.

He nodded. "It would be more comfortable for her as we administer the drug."

"It will not hurt her, will it?" Ziva asked, observing the needle.

"Not at all," he assured them. "We'll insert this into her IV line, so she won't feel a thing. It'll be just like falling asleep."

With some help from a nurse, to avoid jogging the wires, Tony lifted her carefully from the crib, holding her up against his shoulder and stroking her hair. "Dadda…" Rhia mumbled, falling against him tiredly.

"Hey, butterfly. Daddy's here," he whispered back, kissing her head. "Daddy's got you."

She buried her head against his shoulder and whimpered even more. Ziva came up to their side. Tony wrapped an arm around her as she began to rub her daughters back softly. "Are you sleepy, Rhia?" she asked.

"Momma…"

As Rhia turned her face towards Ziva, the answer was written in her eyes. She wasn't just tired, she was exhausted. "All better soon," Tony whispered. "All better, Rhia."

Dr Ashby administered the drug into her IV line around the same time that Rhia became to whimper loudly again. "Hush, _tateleh_, it is okay," Ziva whispered.

"_Momma_…"

"It is okay, my _beautiful _girl," she said, pressing her lips to her hair. "Momma is here. Momma loves you _so _very much."

"Go to sleep, Rhia," Tony cooed softly. "It's okay, baby girl. You can go to sleep."

Distantly, as she began to let her eyes droop, her voice came out as more of a whisper. "_Dadda_…" she mumbled.

"I love you, Rhia," he told her, letting out a shuddering breath as she fell completely asleep on his shoulder. "I love you."

--------

Once Rhia was officially in a coma, they knew that they could do no more for her. Sitting at her bedside would not be efficient until they knew she was being bought back to consciousness. Although it pained them and made them feel like they were abandoning her, they made to return to Shai's room, knowing that their presence could at least be felt by him. Outside the door, Ziva stumbled weakly. Tony caught her, holding her arms to keep her steady. "Ziva?"

"I am fine," she mumbled instantly. "Just give me a second."

She stood, holding on to him as she waited for the nausea to pass. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she assured him, snapping her head up as the nausea passed. "I am fine."

He wasn't buying this, however, and lead her into the family room. Luckily, it was empty, and he closed the door behind them, guiding her into a chair where he knelt before her. "You're not okay," he said simply. "What is it?"

"It is nothing," she told him. "I am just worried."

"Ziva, it doesn't look like nothing," he said.

"Well ,it feels like nothing," she countered.

"Does it?" he tested.

To that, she just sighed.

"Ziva, did you have any of that doughnut that the kids had?" he asked.

More silence, and this time, she avoided his eyes.

"Ziva!"

"No, I did not," she told him. "However, I did lick my fingers to remove the powder from them once I had cut it in half for Shai."

Tony stood up, pulling her into the doorway with him. "We need to get you tested."

"No, I need to be with Shai," she said, tugging him in the opposite direction.

He didn't release his hold on her. "I'm not waiting until you collapse into the same state they did," he told her. "I'm not taking that chance. You're getting checked out right now."

"We have more important things to worry about," she pointed out to him.

He pulled her beside him, looking down at her with an almost animalistic expression. "Look, I don't care if you think this is chauvinistic or whatever, but it's my job to take care of my family. That means my wife as well as my children," he told her, "I know that this is hard for you. It's hard for me as well, Ziva, but we have to do this together. It's hard enough dividing ourselves between the kid's rooms at the moment. I can't watch you get sick as well."

"I will not get sick," she assured him.

He looked at her incredulously. "They just put Rhia into a _coma_. Shai's spending every waking second dry heaving because his stomach is empty but he's _still _trying to be sick. They're in _agony_, Ziva. It **_kills _**me not to be able to stop them hurting." he lowered his voice. "At least let me prevent you hurting."

She leaned forwards, burying her head in his chest and attempting to hold back another batch of fresh tears. "This is horrible, Tony. I cannot do this anymore."

"It's going to be okay, Ziva."

"I just….I need to…" she began to take uneven breaths, and Tony guided her to a chair, sitting her down before she began to hyperventilate.

"Hey, breathe…"

"I cannot…."

"Yes, you can," he said softly. "With me, deep breaths."

"I cannot do this," she said, once she had regained her normal breathing. "I cannot sit here and wait to be told that my son and my daughter are dead."

"Ziva…"

"I just want this to be over," she sighed.

"Ziva. Do you love them?" he asked her.

"Tony-"

"Shai and Rhia, do you love them?"

"More than anything," she nodded.

"You need to hold onto that," he told her firmly. "You've got to hold on and be strong for them, and I'll be strong for you, okay? If you feel yourself falling, just remember that."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: So Hard Not To Cry

_To think I might not see those eyes  
Makes it so hard not to cry  
And as we say our long goodbye  
I nearly do_

"All done, Ma'am."

Overlooking the 'ma'am', Ziva just nodded. She didn't have the energy to fight with nurses, especially nurses who were readily spending time away from treating her children to take blood from her. She watched as the vials of blood from her arm were passed from the nurse to Ducky.

"Yes, I'll have these tested immediately, hopefully Abigail will-"

"If you wish, you can have access to our haematology lab here, Doctor Mallard?" Dr Ashby suggested, as he entered the room and cut off the Scotsman's rambles.

He nodded. "Yes, that would be most convenient. I'll go and fetch Abigail from Shai's room and have her work her magic."

Ducky followed the doctor out of the room, leaving Tony and Ziva alone there. For the most part, Tony had stood by the doorway, if not to keep out of the nurses way then to make sure that Ziva didn't try to escape when faced with a needle...not that she was afraid of needles. It was more likely that she'd attack the nurse for insisting she was anything other than 'fine'. Ziva went to stand up, but Tony stopped her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he stood between her parted legs, where she was still perched on the table. He looked at her silently for a moment before putting his arms around her properly, pulling her in tight against him. She held him back, but when they decided to part they did so mutually. Not that they separated completely though, his hand raised to cup her cheek.

"Thank you," he mumbled.

"They will not find anything," she said confidently.

"Still, thank you," he nodded. "I don't want to see you lying in a hospital bed as well. I can't do anything to help the kids, but I can still help you."

"I only cleaned my fingers," she reminded him. "I will not get sick."

"You could still have ingested some," he pointed out.

"Tony..."

"Ziva, I need you to know something," he said, looking down.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I need you to know that I'm going to fix this."

"Tony...."

"No, Ziva," he cut her off, bringing his eyes round to hers. "I'm their father, and someone's hurt them. I am going to fix this, and I don't care what I have to do to make sure of that. I promise you that whoever did this is going to pay. I am not going to let this bastard destroy our family.

---

"Mom...."

The sound was almost pathetic, but most definitely heart breaking. As Rhia's condition remained unchanging, Tony and Ziva had taken up a base camp on either side of their son. Shai's condition, however, was still deteriorating. His fever had settled at an alarming temperature, so much that he was constantly sweating away the cold compress that Ziva stroked over his forehead as Tony held him from behind, ensuring that he didn't collapse into the plastic container he was vomiting into.

"Yes, tateleh?" she asked, keeping her voice soft and comforting as best she could.

"Hurts everywhere," he complained.

"Do not worry, my son, you will be better soon."

But sharing a worried look with Tony, she wasn't sure whether she'd just made a false promise to her child.

Outside the room, Gibbs stood with Ducky, peering in through the window and trying to separate themselves from the personal aspect of this case...it wasn't working, however.

"Ziva's test results came back this morning," Ducky informed him.

"She sick?" Gibbs asked, neither of them having looked away.

"There was a small trace of the toxin, enough for us to test a vaccine on if....when we find one. It wasn't enough to make her ill, fortunately."

"Good," he nodded. He wasn't sure who would be driven closer to the brink of insanity should she fall sick as well...Ziva, for not being able to be near her children, or Tony, for having to spread his time between his wife, his children, and catching whoever had hurt them. Gibbs could give him the time off, tell him to spent time with his family, make them his priority, but he knew that there was no chance of Tony stepping back and allowing anyone else to eradicate this threat to his family. "Any improvement in the kids?"

"Rhia is remaining at a constant, but only because of the coma. Shai has been in this condition since they sat with him last night. No better, but thankfully no worse."

But inside the room, as Ducky's fortunate words took to the air, all Hell began to break loose. In Tony's arms, Shai began to gasp for breath. Ziva frowned.

"What is happening?" she asked.

"He'll be okay," Tony told her, rubbing his son's back. "He's gonna be fine."

"Fine?" Ziva repeated. "Look at him, Tony! He cannot breathe! He is not fine!"

Hearing his parents words, Shai began to panic. He seized up, unable to catch the breathe he so desperately needed. "Shai," Tony said sharply, trying to attract his attention.

"Shai," Ziva said fearfully.

Tony looked at her. "Ziva, get the doctor."

"Shai," she repeated, not hearing him.

"Ziva, now!" he snapped loudly.

She threw herself off the bed, hitting the emergency button at the same time as Shai's monitors began to blare out a series of warning alarms. She then headed into the hall, trying to flag down the nurses and doctors who suddenly could not be found. In the meantime, Tony took his son into his arms, attempting to calm him down.

"It's okay. Shai, it's okay. Follow my breathing, okay? Deep breath, in and out, in and out..."

He kept up the mantra, but it wasn't being copied as he hoped. Shai continued to gasp like a fish on dry land. "Da.....da-"

"I'm right here," Tony assured him, holding him tighter. "It's going to be okay." Shai looked up at him, and then the worst possible thought that Tony could have had...happened. Shai stopped breathing, falling limp into Tony's arms. "Shai?" he asked, his voice shaking, as well as his hands as his son's eyes rolled into the back of his head. "Shai, no!"

Ziva turned back at his call, the doctors rushing into the room. "What happened?" she asked. "Is he-"

"Come on, bud," Tony begged him, shaking him in his arms. "Wake up."

At that, Ziva pushed past the doctor to get to her son's side. She stroked his face, urging him just as Tony did. "Shai, wake up. Time to wake up now-"

A doctor tried to push past her. "Ma'am, you need to step back-"

"No, I need-"

"If you do not step back, we cannot save your son."

At that, all of them were motionless. Save him. Was he dying? Suddenly, in their pause, Shai was all but ripped from Tony's arms, and both the parents found themselves on the outside of the group. Doctors hovered over their son, moving frantically, but at the same time, too slowly, as the machines in the background continued to scream at them.

"He's not breathing," Dr Ashby announced.

"Shai," Ziva whispered, grabbing onto Tony.

"No heartbeat," the doctor continued. "Push one of epi," he instructed the charge nurse.

"Tony, he has to be okay-"

"He will be," Tony assured her, whilst craning his neck to see around the doctors to see what they were doing to his son.

"Sir, please step back," the nearby nurse told him, stopping him from seeing anything.

"What happened?" he asked them. "What went wrong?"

"Sir-"

"YOU SAID HE'D BE OKAY!" He screamed as Doctor Ashby attempted to speak to him.

"Sir, I need you to be outside. You can't be in here."

And so they were cast out from the room. Gibbs and Ducky were still stood there at the window. The other two joined them there, desperate to see any of what was going on, what the doctors were doing to their little boy. Ziva was openly sobbing against Tony, who was shaking uncontrollably as he watched, his panicked face baring the same pale complexion as the boy inside.

"Oh my god," Tony mumbled, tears spilling onto his cheeks as the horrible sound of the charged paddles hitting the child's chest was heard, and a horrible silence continuing afterwards.

"He is not breathing...." Ziva gasped.

But then it worked. "Okay, we've got a heartbeat!"

Ziva's head whipped up.

"He's breathing," another doctor announced.

Tony buried his face into Ziva's hair, so that none of their companions could see the tears on his face. Ziva threw herself at him completely as he repeated the doctors words over and over. "He's breathing....he's breathing..."

They remained that way for a long time, ignoring the questions and comforts that came from their friends. Eventually, they swapped – Abby embracing Ziva while Tony began to pace backwards and forwards in front of Gibbs, who sat against the wall drinking coffee at an alarmingly fast rate. When one of the doctors came out, Tony stopped his pacing, but it was Ziva that threw question after question at the doctor.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"The last of the toxin has been ingested, so it's started to attack his organs," he explained.

"Is he okay now?"

"He's stable for now."

Stable. Stable wasn't fine. Stable wasn't okay. Stable was...stable.

"Can we see him?" she asked, her voice getting quieter because she knew what the answer would be.

He looked apologetically at her. "I understand that what just happened was incredibly frightening for you both but-"

"He is afraid of hospitals. He will not get his rest if-"

"Mrs. DiNozzo-"

As they continued to argue against Ziva's request, Tony snapped, yelling as he spoke for the first time before vocally confirming that his son was breathing again. "For the love of God, will you let her see her son!" he shouted.

There was silence in the hall for a moment, but he consented with a nod. "Okay, but only one at a time to avoid disruptions or assumptions. We'll be checking in on him every fifteen minutes," he added, as if to warn against them both trying to go in.

The doctor left, and Ziva turned to him. "Go," he told her.

"But-"

"He'll want you," he pointed out, wiping under her eyes with his thumbs. "Go sit with him."

"He will want to see you as well."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," he nodded. "I have to fix this first."

"Tony-"

"He needs you, Ziva," he said firmly. "You've kept him safe when things were terrible before, I need you to do that now."

Her mind took her back to when Shai was born, how she had kept him alive and healthy when her father had them both locked away, and she nodded. It might have seemed chauvinistic, but they seemed to easily adopt their roles when it came to situations like this – Ziva would keep Shai safe with her while Tony went out and destroyed the threat to them. She wordlessly went into Shai's room again, where the little boy was groggy, but awake. Tony watched through the window as Ziva went over to the edge of the bed, sitting down and drawing her son into her arms gently. Shai realised who it was, and cuddled up to her the best he could.

Tony sighed, leaning his head on the glass and closing his eyes. It wasn't nice to see his son in this condition, but it was a lot better than the condition he had been in minutes before. Gibbs came up beside him. "Tony."

"Boss," he mumbled, noticing he was there for the first time.

"What happened?"

"Shai....he stopped breathing. My son stopped breathing and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save him-" His voice started to crack, and Gibbs grabbed his arm lightly, leading him into the family room. They sat down, and he allowed Tony to continue. "I lost him, boss. I had him in my arms and he was dying and...I couldn't save him."

"Shouldn't think like that, DiNozzo," he said softly.

"I know, but..."

"But what?" he challenged him.

"When I first held him properly...right after Ziva told me I was his father...I promised I'd always protect him. I promised that no one would ever try and hurt him again, because his Dad would keep him safe. After all that happened with Ziva's father I swore I'd protect both of them. And now somebody's come into our house, planted poison for Shai and Rhia to eat. I couldn't keep them safe in our own home. I failed them both, boss. They could have eaten the whole thing, that's enough to kill and adult – or what if Ziva had eaten it too – they could all die! What kind husband and father does that make me if I can't even keep them safe in our own home?"

Gibbs was silent for a moment. "He's made contact."

"Who?"

"There's a vaccine."

"How do we get it?" he asked.

"He wants to see you."

And then it all made sense. This was nothing to do with the kids, this was all about him. Revenge against him, and instead everyone else had gotten hurt. He nodded his consent to Gibbs, and then headed back to his son's room. He stood in the doorway, watching Ziva singing to Shai as he lay on the brink of sleep in her arms.

_"And if that diamond ring turns brass, Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass, and if that looking glass gets broke, Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat...."_

Tony went into the room, ignoring the protests of the nurses. He bent his head, kissing his son's forehead and whispering in his ear.

"_Hush little buddy, I know you've had enough. Daddy's gonna find a way to fix this stuff. And if that vaccine can't be found, Daddy's gonna put the bastard in the ground."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_Light up, light up_

_As if you have a choice_

_Even if you cannot hear my voice_

_I'll be right beside you dear_

In any other circumstances, the view of Rhia's room would actually be touching and sweet. Seeing Tony lean into his daughter's crib should have been one of the highlights of Ziva's day – it usually was. Instead, it seemed to fill her stomach with the heavy weight of a disturbing gut instinct. She watched her husband touching Rhia's cheek with his fingers, gently dancing them across her skin, even though there was a part of both of them that knew she couldn't feel it. The coma the doctors had placed her in prevented that, even though they kept encouraging them to speak to her when they went to her side.

"_Farfallina  
Bella e bianca  
Vola vola  
Mai si stanca  
Gira qua  
E gira la  
Poi si resta sopra un fiore  
E poi si resta sopra n fiore"_

"Bit young to learn Italian."

She turned her head at the soft comment from beside her, only to see Gibbs with a tiny smile to accompany the two coffee cups in his hands. He handed one to her, which she took gratefully. Caffeine was all that prevented her from crashing at the moment, so she wasn't going to question how much money she owed everyone from the amount of plastic cups they kept giving to her.

"He always sings to them in Italian," she confirmed. "He wants Shai and Rhia to know their heritage. He has begun to teach Shai some of the basics in Italian now that he is getting older." Instead of going down memory lane, realising how much her precious son was growing up in such a short space of time now that he was speaking fluent English and basic greetings and colours in Italian, she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose as the caffeine soared through her bloodstream. "We should have known that this would have happened eventually."

"You can't raise your kids waiting for them to get hurt," Gibbs pointed out.

"Why not?" she protested. "It would prepare us for when they are."

"There's a difference between being protective and being over protective."

Ziva looked over at Tony, who was now leaning over their frail daughter and whispering something to her. Through the glass and over the muffled sound of her monitors, she couldn't even hope to hear what he was saying to her. "He is a good father," she mused. "Shai wishes to be just like him, Rhia adores being in his arms...I could not hope for a better father for my children."

She adored the hour before Tony arrived home from work, the hour when Rhia would bounce her upper body up and down in her playpen, and when Shai would stare out of the window , perking up and gasping at every car that drove past the apartment block until the cries of 'daddy, daddy, daddy!' send him running to the front door, jumping up and down, ready to make the ultimate leap into Tony's sternum the second he opened the door. She would watch the way that Shai grasped him so tightly, and the way that Tony would lift him up, settling him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry as he came into the living room. It was thoughts like this, ones which hadn't always been a promised reality, which had gotten her through the awful experience at her father's hands in Israel.

Though she knew that Tony loved Shai incredibly, she knew how much he cherished being a part of the months of Rhia's life that he'd missed with his son. She'd been terrified to tell him that she was pregnant again, even though she was in a happy marriage now, rather than a locked bedroom in her childhood homeland. His face had been amazing though, and to see how he'd been stunned into a silence before grinning uncontrollably and start saying that he'd repaint Shai's old crib and dresser because he was sure that it was a girl. He was so involved, going to the store in the middle of the night for cravings she was allowed to indulge this time around, coming home from work with baby clothes he'd bought in his lunch break, suggesting names, finding a new apartment where they had another bedroom for the new baby, even talking Shai around to the idea of having another sibling, coming up with all the great responsibilities he'd have as 'big brother'. And then, when their beautiful daughter was born, he'd almost fight her for the opportunity to get up and feed her in the night, even when he was in late and leaving early for work.

"I take it he's still a good husband," Gibbs assumed.

"What makes you think so?" she asked curiously.

"The fact that you haven't killed him yet," he pointed out.

She had to smile at that. "He is devoted to his family," she confirmed. "He loves us."

Gibbs nodded. "Good."

"The night I returned, when I told Tony that he was Shai's father....Shai started to cry just afterwards, and Tony went to him and picked him up. And he changed. He looked at Shai and Shai opened his eyes, and they just looked at one another for the longest time. Even now, they light up when they see one another. I do not think Tony could not love them more if he had a second heart. If anything were to happen to them now..."

"Nothing is going to happen, Ziva," he told her, cutting her off before she could even begin to contemplate a future without her children.

She turned to him. "Can you promise that, Gibbs?"

"Yes," he nodded firmly. "As soon as Tony's ready, we're going to get the vaccine."

Her mood changed, her whole frame straightening in hope. "You know who did this?"

"No, but that's not going to stop me killing the bastard," he said, almost too calmly.

"Sorry, boss," Tony said, as he moved from Rhia's side to join them in the hall. "I've called shotgun on that."

"Tony," Ziva started.

"You okay?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes," she said.

"You're crying."

Was she? She didn't know anymore. "I do not know what I am supposed to do anymore, Tony. I am so close to giving up, and that scares me-"

"I'll get the vaccine," he assured her. "They'll be fine."

"That is not the point, Tony," she told him tiredly, shaking her head. "This should not have happened in the first place."

"I know," he agreed quietly, rubbing the top of her arm as she leaned into him slightly. "But this is what dad's do. When things go wrong, they fix it. They make it right again."

"Do you really think whoever did this will just hand it over?"

"I'm not coming back without it, Ziva," he told her simply.

"Then what are you still doing here?" she asked him.

He looked back into Rhia's room. "You know," he told her. "The worst part of my day isn't seeing the bodies and the lunatics who put them there. Not anymore. It's saying goodbye and walking away from them every morning."

"Tony..."

"I hate going out of the room and leaving them to go to work, let alone leaving them...like this. But I am going to fix this. I promise, and I need you to believe that."

"I do," she nodded.

At that, he smiled, leaning his forehead against hers for a moment. "I remember the first time you said that," he mused, taking them both back to the day he had hurriedly married her to save her and Shai. "Still makes my heart pound."

"I love you, Tony," she assured him,

"I love you. I'm going to see Shai, and then we're off to kill this bastard, okay?" he told her.

She nodded. "Okay."

"I'll be back," he assured her once more. "I promise."

Before she could reply to him, he walked towards Shai's room, leaving her back in the hall with Gibbs. The elder man turned to her, tossing his empty coffee cup into a nearby trashcan. She stared him down before looking away, in a moment of weakness that still didn't suit her even though it had been years since she had let down her guard around them.

"Make sure he comes back alive, Gibbs."

-

Tony crept into the room, trying to be quieter than the beeping monitors. Shai's eyes were closed, his breathing relatively even – he didn't want to be the one to disturb the little boy's sleep when he so desperately needed it. However, either his plan failed, or Shai wasn't really asleep – he suspected the latter, he'd become just as good at faking sleep as his mother. "Hi Dad," he whispered, as Tony sat down on the side of the bed.

"Hey, bud," he whispered back. "Feeling any better?" he asked hopefully.

Shai just shrugged. "Still hurts."

"I know, Shai," he nodded sadly. "I'm going to fix this though, I promise."

Shai looked at him, half confused, half hopeful. "You can make me not sick?" he asked.

Tony smoothed back some of his hair. "A very bad man made you sick, Shai," he tried to explain. "But I'm going to go and find him and get the medicine that will make you feel better again."

"Will you arrest him?" Shai asked.

Remembering what he said about killing the bastard, Tony opted to tell one single lie to his son. "Yeah, that's right."

The boy's forehead crinkled. "Why can't you just find the bad guy and make him not bad anymore?" he asked.

Tony continued to smooth out his curls, admiring the incredibly large heart that his son had, even towards the person who had caused all his suffering. Shai knew full well what Tony did for a job, that he saw horrible things and made sure that those people didn't hurt anyone else, but while he wanted to grow up and be just like his father, he wanted to do it without locking people away, just in case they were claustrophobic, or afraid of the dark, or worse...afraid of being on their own. He didn't want to put people in prison because they might have little boys and girls like himself and his sister who might miss their mom or dad. His heart seemed to know no bounds, in his mind, everyone was entitled to love.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Shai," he explained, even though he wished that everyone could see the world through a child's eyes, because it would make everything much simpler, so much easier and kinder for all.

"But you're my dad," he said simply. "You can do anything."

He couldn't help but smile. "I wish that were true," he said quietly.

Shai pulled Tony's hand from his head, and pulled it down over his heart. Tony knew this action well – there had been times when work had got dangerous and he'd been forced to the emergency room, and Ziva and Shai had come down to meet him. Shai would be so worried every time that Tony would always lift him into his lap, regardless of whatever bullet wound or bruised rib was hurting him, and take Shai's hand, guiding it to his chest so that he could prove to his son that his heart was still beating strong, and that would mean he was just fine.

"I think it's true," he told him confidently.

Tony smiled. "Thanks, bud."

"Is Rhia still sick?" he asked, turning more worried again.

"Yeah," he nodded. "She is."

"But I don't hear her crying anymore," he said, listening hard for a few minutes.

"That's because she's sleeping right now," he comforted.

"Is she okay?"

"She's okay, because she's sleeping," he assured. "She can't feel sick if she's sleeping."

"She was scared," Shai explained. "That's why she was crying."

"I know," he nodded. "But she's okay. Your mom's been seeing her, and Uncle Ducky, and Uncle Gibbs, and Auntie Abby..."

"I was scared too, but I'm not no more," Shai admitted quickly.

"It's okay to be scared, Shai," he told him. "Everyone gets scared sometimes."

"Were you scared?" he asked his father.

"Yes, I was," he admitted freely. "My special guy and my special girl had been hurt, I was scared that I wouldn't be able to make them better."

Shai guessed where this was heading, and frowned a little. "Do you have to go find the bad guy now?" he asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, but I'll be back real soon, okay?"

"Promise?"

"I promise." Shai awkwardly sat up and Tony brought him into his arms. "I love you, okay?"

"I love you too, Dad."

-

As Tony climbed into the passenger seat, closing the door behind him, Gibbs threw a plastic package at him. He inspected the package in his lap, but didn't open it. He was expecting to get called up on it straight away, but they had been driving in silence for twenty minutes before Gibbs said anything. "You gonna eat that sandwich?" he asked.

"Not hungry," Tony replied.

"When was the last time you ate?" Gibbs asked.

"Not important," he mumbled.

Gibbs didn't even glance away from the road. "Eat the sandwich, DiNozzo."

"Not hungry," he insisted again.

Gibbs pulled the car to a halt, much to the annoyance of the car behind him. "Eat, or when we get there you're waiting in the car," Gibbs warned him.

Sighing, Tony opened the sandwich.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

_Louder, louder_

_And we'll run for our lives_

_I can hardly speak I understand_

_Why you can't raise your voice to say_

Remaining at the hospital while Tony and Gibbs went out to get the antidote to whatever was plaguing their children was one of the hardest things that Ziva ever had to do. She was always to proactive in fighting for her children – the circumstances in how Shai and herself were even here were a testament to that, but to stand by and wait to hear news was a truly terrifying experience. In fact, this entire ordeal was a new fear that she had never experienced before. There was nothing more terrifying than the prospect of losing your children, the babies you had given birth to, soothed in the night, taught how to sit up, to crawl, to walk, to talk...it was frightening. She had to stand back now, and remain with her children. She had to sit, and comfort her deteriorating son, and hope for their comatose daughter, so that their father could go and find the way to save them.

The doctors had managed to get a small amount of food in Shai, but it meant that he was feeling sick again. For now, however, he was getting some much needed sleep, so McGee and Abby joined them in the boy's room, the two of them taking up the chairs while Ziva sat on the bed with her son, holding his sleeping body in her arms.

"He's starting to look a lot more like Tony," McGee noticed after a while. Ziva looked at him for a moment, somewhat startled by a conversation that wasn't filled with despair and medical terminology. "Shai's always looked so much like you," he elaborated. "You can see more of Tony coming out in him now."

Ziva nodded softly. "He is beginning to act more like him, also."

"That doesn't surprise me," Abby smiled a little. "Tony does love having his mini-me."

"More than you could imagine," Ziva confirmed.

"Momma..."

Ziva snapped back into her protective mother mode, looking down at the suddenly squirming boy in her arms. "What are you doing awake, Shai?" she asked him sweetly. "It is late."

"Can't sleep, tummy hurts," he complained. "Is dad back?"

"Not yet," she shook her head. "Your father has gone to get some medicine to make you all better," she reminded him.

Shai settled his head on his mother's stomach. "Daddy make me better."

"He shall, yes," she assured him.

"I know he will," he told her. "He promised." Ziva felt her eyes watering up as her son spoke. He obviously noticed as he looked up at her. "Why are you crying?"

"It is nothing," she assured him. "Do not worry about me."

"Don't be sad, momma," he told her.

"I will try not to be," she assured him. "You should try and go to sleep for a while longer," she told him.

He nodded, and settled his head on her stomach again and tried to sleep. His eyes closed, but they could all tell he hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"Ziva, you're a really good mom," Abby told her quietly. "Not that it surprises me or anything. I always knew you'd be a good mom, even though we all thought any kids of Tony's would be complete nightmares, but I always knew, and now I'm rambling..." she broke off, and collected herself. "I just...you're an amazing mother."

"Thank you, Abby," she said softly.

Shai suddenly jerked, and clutched at his stomach in a way that forced him into a sitting position. He whimpered and Ziva instantly moved with him. "Shai?"

"Hurts," he groaned, and Ziva grabbed the container they had cleaned out from the last time he had been vomiting. Luckily this was just in time as he began to heave his stomach clean once again. Ziva hated that she wasn't able to do more for her son when he was sick like this, but the doctors had told them that until the antidote had been bought back, tested and confirmed to be safe, that all they could do was support Shai and keep him hydrated.

"It really hurts," he whined.

"I know it does, tateleh, but it will all be over soon," she assured him.

"Where's dad?" he asked.

"He will be here soon," she soothed. "You are being so brave, he shall be so proud of you." She looked up at McGee, and looked somewhat frantic. "Where is she?" she hissed. "He should be here by now."

He just checked his phone sadly. "I haven't heard anything yet."

"He said he would be here."

"He'll be here," he assured her.

"He should be here."

"Ziva, he's coming," he told her surely.

"Momma..."

"Hush, Shai," she soothed, turning away from McGee. "I am here, I have got you."

* * *

The warehouse area was always creepy at night, even when you were a federal agent. Tony would have shuddered, made a movie reference and hid the tingle down his spine were this a usual case, but it wasn't. He couldn't even recall a movie that featured a warehouse, because he was so focused on saving his children.

"Where is the bastard?" Tony seethed, when he realised that they were, in fact, alone.

"He'll be here," Gibbs assured him.

Sure enough, moments later they noticed the outline of another man further down the warehouse from them. They approached him, as the man made no move to advance on them. With their hands on their weapons, clearly displaying their badges as per protocol which had been drilled into them by now, they took even steps towards the man, leaving a space of roughly ten feet between them when they stopped.

"I knew you'd come," he admired with a gruff, familiar tone. It wasn't a voice that Tony could place, though.

"Where's the antidote?" Tony asked immediately, not willing to waste time on how he knew this person. The team could figure that out later, all he cared about was saving his children.

"You misunderstood my message," he told them. "I said that I had an antidote, not that I was going to hand it over. Not without a price, anyway."

"No, you're going to give it to us right now," Gibbs told him simply, with that eased authority that had the team running whatever tasks he gave them immediately.

This man, however, challenged them. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

Tony gave a tiny shrug. "If you don't, I'm going to shoot you right between the eyes."

"And then you'll never get your antidote," he pointed out. Tony fell silent, and the man allowed a smile to creep into his voice. "See, you don't think things through in the long run. You never did."

"Whatever grudge you have with me has nothing to do with my kids," he argued.

"The toxin was never meant for the children," he insisted.

"Then me, my wife?" he asked.

"Either," he decided. "Both would have been nice. However, seeing the torment on your face right now is rather more satisfying than your deaths would have been," he noted.

"You bastard," he snarled.

"And the other victims?" Gibbs asked him.

The man held up his hands, which were briefly visible under the light, whereas the rest of his body remained unseen in the shadows. "Test subjects, nothing more."

"Why?"

The man shrugged. "Your agent here ruined my family, it's time for me to ruin his."

"I don't even know you," Tony insisted.

"That's where you're wrong, Anthony."

He frowned, the voice triggering something in his mind again. "Who are you?" he asked.

The man stepped out of the shadows, and revealed his true self to them. There was a familiar jaw line, an identical nose, a similar brow shape. The voice was nothing compared to the memories that came flooding back when Tony saw the man standing before him.

"You," he snarled, as he lunged and threw the man against the wall, pressing his gun against his temple. "You bastard! My kids are dying because of you!"

"If it weren't for you my wife wouldn't have died," the man shouted back.

"Mom's death wasn't my fault!"

"Wasn't it?"

Tony stopped, looking directly into the eyes of his own father for the first time in more than twenty years. His finger jerked, pulling at the trigger a little despite himself.

"Tony!" Gibbs shouted at him, when he saw the movement. He stepped up closer, looking directly at Tony's father. "The antidote?"

"Is in a safe place," he assured them.

"Tell us where it is, or-"

"Or what?" he tested. "You'll have own son shoot me?"

"I'm more than ready to shoot you myself," Gibbs told him. "But I think Tony deserves this one."

"Give me the antidote," Tony growled. "Now."

His father shook his head. "It was always your fault," he told him. "She started drinking after you were born."

"She drank before I was born," Tony corrected him. "She drank because of you."

Tony fought back every memory of his mother, his beloved mother, knocking back drink after drink to cope with her monster of a husband.

"And then the accident..."

The screaming... The darkness... The smell of burning...

"No," Tony shook his head, his hold on his father tightening.

The smell of blood... The smell of petrol... The smell of smoke...

"She chose to save you first, her treasured Anthony..."

The screaming...the screaming...

"It wasn't my fault," he insisted.

"Nicholas and Andrea would have lived if it weren't for you," his father reminded him cruelly. "She could have saved them if she weren't trying so hard to save you."

The blood...

"Losing them destroyed your mother," his father continued. "If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have taken her own life..."

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" Tony screamed in his face.

"And now Shai and Rhia are sick."

His eyes darkened dangerously. "Don't you dare say their names."

"They're going to die," he taunted.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Tony," Gibbs calmed him again. "The antidote first."

"You're feds," his father pointed out. "You won't let a fed shoot a civilian."

"Self-defence," Gibbs recited. "You attacked Agent DiNozzo, he retaliated appropriately. We make exceptions for monsters like you."

"This is taking too long," Tony decided, before lowering his weapon and callously shooting his own father in the thigh. As he screamed, Tony screamed over him. "Where's the goddamn antidote!"

"Jacket pocket," he choked out, as he staggered down to the ground in pain.

Tony raided his jacket and found the small vial, which he transferred to his own pocket. They turned around and began to retreat back to their car, intent on getting back to the hospital as quickly as possible and leaving the bastard in the alley to bleed himself out. However, when they reached the car, he called back to his son.

"You won't protect them forever, Anthony!"

Tony raised his eyes to Gibbs, who gave him a long look before getting into the car. Tony went back over to his father and stood before him, watching his blood seep through his trousers onto the filthy floor, mingling with god knows whatever was spilled on the ground. Never had his father been seated in a more appropriate venue, he decided. He raised his gun, bringing it directly in his fathers face. He'd often joked about being in this position with his father, but he always thought that perhaps he'd feel something, perhaps something would happen to stop him, but nothing did. He felt nothing, he saw nothing, and nothing stopped him.

"You're wrong," he shook his head. "I'm always going to protect them."

And when the bullet left his gun and entered his fathers skull, he did feel something.

And it was one of the greatest feelings he'd ever felt.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

_Slower, slower_

_We don't have time for that_

_All I want is to find and easier way_

_To get out of our little heads_

Ziva stood in her daughter's room, the doctors were trying to stall Shai's vomiting now and they were gradually taking Rhia out of her coma. Since Tony and Gibbs had returned with the antidote they were preparing the children while Ducky and Abby were helping to test it against the children's blood samples. She stood stroking her daughter's cheek, waiting for her dark haired daughter to open her beautiful eyes again.

"You need to wake up, Rhia," she whispered in a small voice. "Your daddy is coming to see you, and he will be here soon."

"Daddy's here now."

She turned from where Rhia was laying to see Tony standing there in the doorway to the private room. She sighed with an overwhelming relief and rushed over to him, hugging him tightly. "Tony," she whispered. "You were so long, I thought something had happened-"

"I'm ok," he assured her. "The kids?"

"They are starting to bring Rhia out of her coma," she nodded.

"Right, that's good?"

"They want her to be awake when they administer the antidote, so, yes."

"And Shai?" he asked.

"They attempted to get him to eat something after you left, but his vomiting started again after and he has not stopped since," she told him. "You have been gone for hours, where have you been?"

"In the lab," he told her. "I didn't want to come down here without any news, so I waited until they'd tested the antidote."

"And it has worked?" she asked, her eyes suddenly desperate. "Please, tell me it will work..."

"They tested it against the kids' blood samples from when they were bought in, and it worked."

"It worked," she repeated.

Tony nodded. "They're just working out how much they need to give to each of them. It shouldn't take longer than half an hour."

Ziva leaned forwards, resting her head on his shoulder. "That sounds like a very long time."

"Half an hour," he repeated, "and then there's only improvements."

She sighed, relief beginning to catch up with her. "Tony...who did this to them?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled.

"It does, and you know that."

"It shouldn't matter anymore," he repeated. "He's dead."

She lifted her head from his shoulder, staring at him. "What did you do?" she asked him softly.

"He poisoned our kids, Ziva, what do you think I did?" he said darkly.

"You shot him," she realised.

"He deserved worse," he confirmed.

"Gibbs let you?"

Tony nodded. "He'd have done it himself if I hadn't."

Ziva was quiet for a moment. "If you are not going to tell me who did this, will you at least tell me why?" she asked him.

"He wasn't targeting them," he revealed.

"Us?" she asked.

"Me," he confirmed.

Ziva nodded. "Someone that you know, or just someone that you angered?"

"Both," he whispered.

"An old friend?" she sensed.

He shook his head. "Old family."

She frowned. "Tony..."

He moved over to where his daughter was lying, having noticed that her arm had moved, a signal that she was slowly becoming more active. He reached down into the crib and held her tiny hand, causing her to calm again. Ziva came to stand beside him, and placed her hand over the one of his that lay on the railing. "It was my father," he whispered, betrayal seeping into his voice.

"Oh, Tony..."

"It's ok," he shrugged off. "He can't hurt them anymore."

"Why was he targeting you?" she asked. "Why would he want to hurt you like that?"

"Like you said, he was someone I pissed off."

"Stop it," she told him quietly, though her voice was stern.

"Stop what?"

"Stop pretending that it does not matter."

"It doesn't," he insisted.

"Do not lie to me, Tony."

"I'm not lying," he said. "Why he was targeting me doesn't matter. Not to me. What matters to me is that his plan messed up and our kids got hurt instead."

"You can still tell me," she assured him.

He sighed, bowing his head so that he was focusing more on his daughter. "I know," he surrendered, and she said nothing as she waited for him to continue, knowing that he would. "Nicholas and Andrea," he whispered. "They died in a car crash when I was ten."

She nodded. "I remember."

"My mom committed suicide not long after, said she couldn't live knowing that she failed them. My father blamed me because she could have saved the both of them in the time it took to get me out of the car. They were unconscious, perfectly fine, maybe some broken bones, but I was trapped under the front seat. She managed to get me out of there and then the car blew up. They died, my mother couldn't live with losing two of her children and she just lost the will to live. My father blamed me for killing all three of them."

"Tony, look at me," Ziva whispered. This time, he listened to her. "You are twice the man, and ten times the father, that he ever was."

"Am I really, though?" he asked doubtfully.

"Shai and Rhia love you," she reminded him. "Look at Shai, he will do anything to make you proud."

"He makes me proud with everything he does," he murmured.

Ziva smiled softly. "That is why you are a better father."

* * *

They arrived in Shai's room just as he was being administered the antidote through an IV drip. Abby ran over to Tony, hugging him tightly. "I knew you'd do it!" she squealed.

"I had to," he nodded, hugging her back.

She pulled back and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a great dad, Tony, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

He smiled. "Thanks, Abs."

They approached Shai's bedside, focusing on the doctor who turned to them. "This may bring back the vomiting again," he told them. "But it will just be his body getting rid of the last of the toxin in his body, so there will be no need to worry."

"Ok," Ziva nodded.

"How long will it take to work?" Tony asked.

"We don't know yet, but we have high hopes this could be over this time tomorrow as long as the night goes smoothly. We're about to administer the antidote to Rhia, and one of you may want to be with her while we do that. Until she regains consciousness, however, your priority should remain with Shai."

They nodded, and whispered among each other for a moment. Ziva placed a kiss on her son's head and went to be with Rhia. Tony remained with Shai, sitting down on the bed directly beside him and wrapping his arm around the boy, rubbing his back. He was already gagging again, his body preparing him for the onslaught of vomiting that was soon to follow. "Dad?" he asked, looking down at the man who sat beside him.

"Ok, bud. It's ok, I'm here," he murmured, kissing his forehead. "You're going to get better now, I promise."

Shai whined loudly. "Don't wanna be sick no more."

"Don't be scared," Tony told him. "Don't fight it, ok? I know you hate being sick but we're going to do this together. I'm going to stay with you the whole time."

"'Kay," Shai whispered, leaning against his father as he started to fall asleep.

The doctor disapproved stepping in. "Shai, you need to stay awake."

"Sleepy," he mumbled, moving closer to his father.

Tony stepped in, following the orders from the doctor. "Shai, talk to me."

"Dad?"

"That's right, keep talking to me, Shai. You've got to stay awake for a while," he told him.

"Ok," he mumbled.

"What shall we do when we get out of this hospital?" he asked, trying to keep the boy talking. "How about we take a nice vacation somewhere?"

"Yeah," Shai nodded.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

Shai looked up at him, and Tony noticed that he was actually gaining colour in his cheeks, rather than looking pale. Perhaps his vomiting wasn't going to happen yet. "I get to pick?" he asked tiredly.

"Anywhere in the world," he nodded.

"The whole entire world?" Shai asked in wonder.

"Anywhere," Tony repeated.

"Disneyland," he decided instantly.

Tony smiled. "Ok, we'll go to Disneyland. We'll take Rhia to see the real princesses, yeah?"

"Can I get a pirate sword?" he asked.

"Sure thing," he nodded. "And you'll have to get a pirate hat to go with it, because it every pirate needs a hat."

"And an eye patch," Shai added.

"Good idea," he praised. "You think they'll have a hat to fit me as well?" he asked.

"No, pirates don't have dads," Shai told him, as if he were being silly and he had explained this a thousand times already.

"Oh," he said, feigning disappointment. "No hat for me then."

"You can be my first mate," Shai told him. "Then you get a hat."

"Captain Shai and First Mate Tony," he said dramatically. "Sounds like a good adventure to me, little guy."

Shai frowned. "No, you gotta be First Mate Dad," he told him.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because that's who you are," Shai said.

Tony smiled, kissing the top of his son's head and ignoring the fact that his curls were completely sweat-glistened from his fever and in desperate need of a wash. "I am so, SO, proud of you, Shai. You're being so brave," he told him.

"Momma said you would be," he whispered.

Tony looked up, smiling at Ziva, who was now standing in the doorway with Abby and listening to every word of their conversation. "That's because your momma's always right," Tony told his son.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"You gotta write that down and show it to her," Shai said.

"Why's that?"

"She'll never believe you if you don't show it to her."

Tony laughed softly, as did two women in the doorway. They stood, listening to all the adventures that the father and son were planning about pirates and tree-houses and invading pirate islands. "Tony's amazing with him," Abby admired.

"This is nothing," Ziva shook her head. "Do you remember when Shai and I first came back, when his immune system was bad and he caught the cold after Tony and I married?" she asked.

Abby nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember that cold," she mused. "No one got any sleep that fortnight."

"Tony used to pace the halls with him in the middle of the night, insisting that I needed to sleep and that he had six months of missed time with his son to make up for," Ziva revealed. "He would walk with him and talk to him until he had gone back to sleep, and he would not even get stressed when he had to go to work early either. He never once complained about getting up in the night or having to put the children first. He is an amazing father," she agreed. "He would do anything for his children."

"He'd do anything for you, too," Abby reminded her.

Smiling, Ziva leaned against the doorway, resting her weight against the frame. "Yes, he would."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

_Have heart, my dear_

_We're bound to be afraid_

_Even if it's just for a few days_

_Making up for all this mess_

When dawn broke through the hospital windows, Tony walked into his daughters room. Rhia was still asleep, as was her mother, who was fast asleep in a chair beside the crib. He took a moment to watch his wife sleeping, noting the truly exhausted expression on her face. Even while he was watching her, her stomach rumbled loudly, and he frowned. When was the last time she ate? He knew that Gibbs had forced the sandwich down him yesterday, but he couldn't even remember the last time he saw Ziva eat anything. He brushed the hair away from her face, and leaned in to whisper to her, resting his weight on the arms of the chair.

"Ziva...Ziva, wake up."

"Hmm..." she whispered as he eyes opened.

"It's morning," he told her.

Her head snapped towards Rhia's crib. "Did she wake up?"

"No," Tony said, watching her face fall. "You were awake until three this morning."

She sighed, running her hand over her brow. "I was so sure that she would wake up, but-"

She broke off, sighing heavily again. Tony was silent, he knew that the doctors were expressing concern because, while Rhia was out of her coma, she still hadn't woken up. She would move, she would occasionally make a sound, but her eyes wouldn't open. Unfortunately, they were unable to test her for any damage until she had woken up, because they needed to be sure the antidote had been received fully before they unhooked her from the IV to take her for any scans. She was much smaller than her brother, with a weaker immune system, and she may not have been able to stand the effects of the toxin.

"Come on," he whispered. "You need to eat something, have some breakfast."

She shook her head, settling further in the chair. "I am not hungry."

"Don't lie to me, sweet cheeks," he told her. "I heard your stomach rumbling in your sleep."

"Tony," she told him seriously.

"You can't help them if you're on the verge of passing out, Ziva," he pointed out.

"I am not," she insisted.

"How soon until you are?" he tested her.

She just shook her head. "I need to know that they will be ok, first."

"They will be," he assured her. "They've had the antidote, and it works. Shai's doing great, and they said that Rhia's fever has gone completely now."

"Rhia has not work up yet," Ziva pointed out.

"She will," he promised. "In her own time. You know she doesn't sleep on anyone's schedule except her own."

She shot him a look. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Do you really think I'm calm, Ziva?" he snapped at her, raising his voice a little. He stood fully, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. Anyone else might have flinched, but not Ziva. She just stared at him as he ran a hand through his already messy hair and extended his hand out to her. "Let's go down to the family room," he whispered.

She followed him there, glad when they found it empty, and they closed the door behind them. She stood in the centre of the room, watching as he paced up an down. She said nothing, knowing from the way his jaw was tightening that he was dying to speak what was on his mind.

"Do you really think I'm calm?" he repeated, softer this time.

"I do not know, Tony," she admitted.

He frowned. "You don't seriously think-"

"I do not know what I think, Tony," she told him. "You have been so focused on the children and on me, I do not know what you are feeling. I am scared for my son, I am scared for my daughter. I worry that Shai may relapse, just as I worry that Rhia may not wake up at all. I know how I am feeling. Have you taken a single second to understand what you are feeling?" she asked him.

"Yes."

"When?"

"It doesn't matter," she shrugged.

"Yes, it does," she insisted.

"Why should it?" he asked her. "The kids are ok, you're ok, let's just leave it there."

"No, let us not," she denied. She went over to him, putting one hand on his chest and another on his cheek. "Every time you have stopped me from doing something ridiculous it has been the same reason from you 'you are my wife, I am supposed to take care of you'. Well, you are my husband, Tony. We are married. We are a team. We have each other's backs. I care about you, Tony, I love you."

He went to draw her hands away, but she shook her head, keeping them in place. "Ziva..."

"No, Tony. Why can you not understand this?"

"Understand what?"

"You keep saying how you are supposed to protect your family," she reminded him. "We are a family, Tony. You and I, Shai and Rhia. We are a family, and just because you are the husband and father of this family does not mean that you are the only one of us that needs to do the protecting." Tony sighed, looking away from her with a hint of helplessness. "You keep saying that you want to protect us, but are you ever going to let us help you?" she asked quietly.

Tony broke away from her with an anxious expression, sitting down on one of the chairs and lowering his head into his hands. She could tell that he was struggling to hold it together now, and she followed him over, standing before him and running a hand through his hair. She knew from years of experience that this calmed him down, and his reaction of moving his head slightly forward to lean against her stomach confirmed this.

"Please, Tony," she begged. "Talk to me."

He was silent for a moment, but when he looked up at her she could see that there were unshed tears in his eyes. "I shot him, Ziva."

"Oh, Tony," she whispered, understand immediately.

"I shot him," he repeated. "I shot him in the thigh because he wouldn't tell me where the antidote was and then...when we were walking away he told me that I couldn't protect my kids forever, so I went back to him."

"Tony..."

"I went back," he cut her off. "I stood over him, and I looked him in the eye as I shot him. My father – my own father. I shot him. I killed him. And then I allowed Gibbs to call it in as a self-defence in line of the case. Do you know how hard it was to look my son in the eye after I'd done that?" he choked.

"Tony, that is not fair," she shook her head. "You cannot compare the relationship you had with your father to the one that you have with Shai. It is not the same."

"There's nothing to compare, Ziva," he shrugged. "I felt nothing when I shot him. All I could think about was that my son and my daughter were lying in hospital...sick...dying...because of him. Because of me, really. Because I'd not been a good enough son for him," he added guilty.

"It was never about you being a good son," she told him. "He was not a good enough father." She put her arms around him, and he rested his head against her stomach. "When you think about Shai wanting to be a federal agent, like yourself...when you think about him holding a weapon, what goes through your mind?"

"It scares me," he whispered shakily.

"When you pulled a gun on your father, what did he do?" she asked.

"He...he laughed."

Ziva kissed the top of his head. "Tony, this is not a test of your parental ability," she assured him. "This was your father doing the wrong thing, which ended up being a worse thing. Look at what you have done. You went after him, you got the antidote and you bought it back so that your children...our children...could live. And as well as that, you removed the threat against them. You cannot have a justification for getting mad at me when I call myself a bad mother if you are going to doubt yourself because of what that bastard said to you."

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

"Do not be," she whispered back. He tightened his hold around her and breathed out heavily. "Comfortable?" she asked him.

He nodded against her. "I remember doing this the night you told me you were pregnant with Rhia."

"Perhaps you are more in-tune to the female body than you believe," she suggested.

Tony looked up, confused. "Ziva, what are you saying?"

She bit her lip. "I have told you this before, yet it is still rather terrifying every time that it needs to be said."

"Ziva..."

"I did not want to say because of all that has been happening with the children, and it is early days so I thought it may be best to wait for all of this to be over first, for us to get the children home and settled again..."

"Ziva, you're rambling, worse than Abby," he told her, drawing her closer so that she was now standing between his parted legs. "Why are you trying to tell me? Because if it's what I think you're telling me..."

"It may be," she realised. "What do you think I am going to tell you?"

"Ziva, are you-?"

The door to the family room opened, and Abby walked in. She winced apologetically. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Yes, actually," Tony told her.

"Sorry, guys," she told them.

"It's ok," he excused. "Stay."

"Stay?" she asked.

"Yeah, you should hang around to hear the good news," he told her.

"Oh, I love good news!" she bounced, coming in and moving closer to them. "What good news?"

Tony looked back into his wife's eyes, placing his hands on her hips so that his thumbs could rub small circles on her lower stomach. "Ziva was just about to tell me that we're having another baby."

Ziva smiled, which was all the confirmation that they needed, and Abby looked like she was torn between exploding and passing out. "OH MY GOD!" She squealed. "I have to go tell McGee!"

She ran from the room, disappearing with intense noise but neither of them noticed. "Tell me, then," Tony encouraged her.

"You already know," she pointed out.

"Ziva, there have been several times in my life when I know I'll never forget what you said to me, word for word," he told her, counting them off on his fingers. "When you asked me to save you, when you told me that Shai was my son, when you agreed to marry me, when you said 'I do', the first time you told me that you loved me, and the time you told me that you were pregnant with Rhia..." he smiled at her. "I want to hear you tell me, so I can add it to those memories."

She smiled at him. "Tony..."

"Yes, Ziva?" he asked expectantly.

"Give me your hand." He held his hand out to her, and she took it in her own, resting it low down on her stomach. He smiled at this, laughing a little. "Ready?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I'm ready. Tell me."

She guided his hand a little lower, to where it was roughly above where their miniscule child was. "Right here, there is a tiny heartbeat."

"A tiny heartbeat," he repeated.

"Tony, we are going to have another baby."


	10. Epilogue

**Chapter Ten  
Epilogue**

_Light up, light up  
As if you have a choice  
Even if you cannot hear my voice  
I'll be right beside you dear_

He didn't imagine that he'd cry, but there were tears streaming down his cheeks.

Holding his daughter in his arms felt exactly like it had done the very first time – warm, a comforting weight, and an overwhelming surge of love. He'd not had the beauty of holding Shai after he'd entered the world, but with Rhia he had. He'd held her first, kissed her forehead even though parts of her were still slimy. Now, he held her even though she felt more fragile than ever, although perhaps that was his interpretation. She was stronger than she had been in a week, more durable yet still thinner in a way that made him want to stuff her full of chocolate cake and pizza.

That wasn't why he was crying though.

He hadn't cried when the nurse had woken him up from the night he had spent at her crib side to tell him that her heartbeat was strong and that her breathing was getting stronger. He hadn't cried when they told him that she was beginning to wake up. He hadn't cried when she had opened her tiny eyes before he had the chance to rush and get his wife to be there too. He hadn't cried when she had grumbled uncomfortably for a moment. He hadn't cried when she had looked at him and opened up her arms.

But he had cried when she whispered 'Daddy' as he drew her into his arms.

She'd never said 'daddy' before. Always dada. Dada was the favourite word. Ziva would always be Momma, whether Rhia was a year old or thirty years old, but Dada had been itching to turn into Daddy for weeks now. And now it had happened. Considering the circumstances and the lengths he had gone to in protecting his children – and what he'd needed to do to his own father in order to be the better father himself – it had sprung tears from his eyes before he'd even realised they were forming.

"Daddy's here," he repeated. "Daddy's got you."

He'd wanted to take her to Ziva, to show her how their daughter was not only alive, but awake and asking for her mother, and saying 'daddy', but the nurses insisted that Rhia was not to leave the room. So instead, he'd gone down to Shai's room where his wife was no doubt sleeping. However, she was wide awake and watching their sleeping son, who'd had his colour return to his cheeks finally.

"Morning," he greeted as he walked into Shai's room. Ziva turned, showing that she'd barely been awake long enough to recognise the time.

"Morning," she repeated. "It is morning."

"And a very good morning it is," he announced, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Guess who's pretty eyes I saw this morning?" he asked her with a knowing smile.

"Rhia," she breathed. "Is she awake?"

"And asking for her momma," he nodded.

Ziva jumped up and faced him. "Oh my goodness, Tony..." she threw herself into his arms, and they held each other tightly. He felt the tears of relief as they soaked through his chest. The force with which they clung to one another should have caused some pain, but it did nothing but give them more strength. The drive which had been pushing them forwards for the past few days had been hanging on by a thread, and now that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, the thread was already wavering. The true exhaustion which they'd previously forbidden themselves to feel was setting in and even though moments like this reminded them that this was almost over, they still had to remember that they weren't at the end yet.

Keeping his arms around her, he let out a sigh. "She's ok," he assured her. "She's ok now."

She made to move away from him, towards the door, but she hesitated. "Shai..." He didn't envy her that moment. He'd had it himself. Though he was pleased his daughter had woken up, he felt almost guilty for being so happy when he held her when their son was still very sick down the hall. Shai had fallen into a deep sleep after vomiting up the last of the poison in his body, and the doctors hadn't been able to wake him up to get him to drink something, so he was back on an IV drip. They weren't concerned too much though, saying that his body was under a lot of strain and was just allowing time for him to get back to normal, but it still concerned the parents.

"I'll stay with him," he told her, turning her back towards the door. "Go see our little girl."

* * *

Ziva stepped into the sterile room which a pounding heart. She'd felt so many awful emotions in this room that week, and the anticipation at feeling something good there felt almost impossible to comprehend. Robbed of the chance to hold her daughter for what felt like a year, her arms itched to take her little girl in her arms and envelope her in the adoration she should have been awake to receive everyday she'd been here. She hadn't seen her little girl's eyes since the doctors had forced them to close, something which had simulated death way too much for her to bear. She wanted to look into those dark eyes, smooth down the dark curls, and for ten seconds, just imagine they were at home and everything was fine.

Soon, she assured herself. Soon, it shall be.

She approached the crib bed and placed her hands on the rails. Inside, was her tiny girl, wide awake, as alert as if nothing had happened and she were simply waiting to be taken from her bed and dressed for the day. She made no attempt to stop tears from dropping onto her cheeks as she looked to a nurse, who indicated that it was ok for her to pick up her daughter, and at that her heart seemed to melt. She didn't need to think about the natural action of lifting her child into her arms, and as soon as the permission had been given her arms had dropped of their own accord, hands bringing up the child before the girl had fully noticed she was there.

And then they were face to face, little Rhia held before her mother with matching eyes and matching hair mirroring one another. There was a small pause before Rhia reached out both her hands, placing them on Ziva's cheeks in an exploratory way and mumbling to herself before saying that beautiful word that made her heart swell and tears fall faster.

"Momma," she chirped, patting Ziva's cheek for good measure at the success of correctly identifying her mother. "Momma. Hi."

Ziva laughed a little despite herself. "Hi, my sweet girl," she smiled back, kissing her daughter before holding her tightly and taking her over to the couch in the corner of the room.

She would have contently held her there for hours, days, even, but Rhia was having none of that. Rhia was alert now, and she could see the shining jewels tha attracted her attention every day. Ziva was used to keeping her daughter from grabbing her wedding ring, and more than used to spotting that fascinated look in the girls eye when she saw something that she wanted. So instead of resting and cuddling, they sat on the couch and explored one anothers hands, they poked one another on the nose, and they sung, or in Rhia's case mumbled, songs that filled the previously despair filled room with a little more light.

* * *

Tony had been sat at his son's bedside for twenty minutes when the change happened. A breath that sounded different to all the others, more unsettled, more irregular - the kind of breath you heard when he was slowly waking himself up, but more than 90% of him was still clinging to sleep. It didn't surprise him too much, because he'd been hoping for it, but he still jumped up from the chair and perched on the edge of the bed over his son.

"Shai? Shai, can you hear me?"

"Hmm.." he mumbled back, moving his head as if to turn and go back to sleep.

"You've got to wake up now, Shai. That's it, listen to my voice."

"No school..." he mumbled.

Tony smiled, laughing under his breath. "Ok, no school," he agreed, "but you still need to open your eyes for Daddy."

"Dad," he recognised, and took a deep breath as his eyes opened. "Still bedtime," he complained tiredly.

"Not anymore, little guy," he said, smoothing down his son's unruly curls. "It's morning now."

Shai sighed in exhaustion and opened his arms up to Tony, who carefully moved him into his arms. Shai put his head lazily on his father's shoulder and relaxed in his arms. "Where's Momma?"

"Momma's gone to see Rhia," he told him softly.

"Is Ree-Ree ok?" he asked, worry creeping into his tired voice.

"Yeah, bud, she's ok," he assured him. "You're both ok now."

"Is she really ok? She's not sick anymore?"

Shai had a concern from the moment he knew that Rhia was sick as well that it was somehow his fault for being ill first. "She's really ok," Tony told him. "The doctors gave her the same medicine that they gave you, and she's not crying anymore, and she's not sick anymore."

"Good," he decided.

There was a small silence, and Tony felt that Shai needed more convincing, so he nudged him gently with his shoulder. "She smiled at me earlier," he told her.

"Yeah?" Shai asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Real big smile. Pretty."

"Pretty like Momma," Shai agreed, sighing contently.

"Yeah, our pretty girls," Tony agreed.

They contently held one another for a while longer, eventually one of the doctors noticed that Shai was awake during the morning rounds and removed the IV from his arm once he had proven he could drink some water without throwing it back up again. This left them able to sit wherever they cared, and they settled for sitting by the window where Shai could see outside.

"Well, this is an improvement..."

They both looked towards the door where Gibbs was stood with two coffees in his hands. "Hi, boss," Tony smiled.

Shai grinned at him, the two matching smiles startling the elder man for a moment. "Hi, boss," the boy mimicked his father, as he often did.

"First I see a pretty little girl awake and happy, and now I see my favourite little guy up and awake as well." He admired, as he came over to the window where they were and sat down on a chair by theirs. Shai decided to swap himself for the coffee as Tony took the drink, and moved himself onto Gibbs' lap with a practiced ease.

"I feel all better now," Shai informed him. "Daddy made me all better."

"That's because you have the best dad in the whole world," Gibbs told the boy, who nodded firmly to confirm this. He then looked up at Tony. "Ziva just told me the good news."

Tony smiled. "The news that Shai's awake, that Rhia's awake, or surprise number three?"

"Number three," Gibbs smiled. "Whoever up there decided that there aren't enough DiNozzo's in the world needs a smack on the head, but if they turn out like these two, we can't complain too much."

"Oh my god," Tony suddenly mumbled. "Ziva doesn't know that Shai's awake."

* * *

"Sir? Sir, what are you doing?"

Ziva looked up from where she had been entertaining her baby girl with a game of pat-a-cake for the fifteenth time in a row where she heard a nurse coming down the hall sounding distressed. Sure enough Tony's voice followed afterwards.

"You heard the kid, he wants to see his sister."

"He can't leave his room..."

"My son is feeling better, he's off the IV, my daughter is feeling better and also off the IV. My kids are usually only apart for school hours and they've been separated most of the week. He just wants to see his baby sister."

And with that, Tony walked into the room with Gibbs at his shoulder and Shai carried on his hip. Ziva gasped with relief at how alert her son looked, compared to how deeply he was sleeping not only an hour ago, and Tony went over to the couch where they were seated. Rhia chirped an endless stream of "Daddy, daddy," as he sat down until the children were swapped in their arms and Shai curled up to his mother.

Gibbs stood in the doorway, not wanting to intrude but finding it hard to stop watching as the family melded together as they should be. Tony's arm settled around his wife's shoulder, her head dropping to the gap in the corner of his neck as it so often did when she was exhausted beyond relief, but her eyes remained soft and aware as she watched her children. Shai made sure he was fully in his mother's embrace before leaning his arms out and joining his sister in a hand game that no one in the room could understand but the two giggling children. The parents shared a brief kiss before settling comfortably against one another, oblivious to anyone else in the room but their children.

* * *

Hours later, they remained there. Doctors came to them to complete their hourly checks and while recommending that they might be more comfortable in their beds, no one wanted to move from the couch. The children fell asleep in their laps, Shai bundled between them with his head leaning across Tony's lap and Rhia lying against Ziva's chest. In the quiet of the moment as night had begun to fall, the two parents breathed yet another sigh of relief.

"Are you ok?" Tony asked his wife softly.

"Me?" she asked, with a soft nod. "I am fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You look so exhausted."

"So do you," she smiled back at him. "I am just so glad this is all over."

He nodded, and kissed her. "I love you," he mumbled against her lips. "I love you, and I love our family."

"And your family loves you too," she assured him,settling aginst him with a sigh. "I would love to leave here and never return."

"Me too," he agreed. "We've seen enough hospitals in our lifetime, but we'll be back here in nine months," he reminded her.

"But that is for a good reason," she pointed out.

And when little Aaron arrived in the world, eight months later (earlier by Tony's count, but right on time by Ziva's, he found that he had found the heart to replace the photo on his desk of Shai holding Rhia, this time with the frame containing his eldest son showing his only daughter how to hold their baby brother correctly.

And that image would be the one that he kept with him even when his first grandchild was placed in his arms.

**END.**

**A/N: I know it's taken me a long time to complete this one, but I hope you've enjoyed it :)**


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